Today my mother turns 75.  Over 20 years ago when I was applying to graduate school I described the impact she had on my life in one of the admission essays.  I am publishing it below.  Happy Birthday Mom.  Thanks for everything you did and do for me. 

Describe the specific experience in your life which contributed to your personal growth.

Do normal people really live like those families on television?  This was a question that I was constantly pondering during the years of my youth.  My family life during this time could not be considered typical.

When I was seven years old my parents were divorced.  It was a nasty affair with my father going off to live with another woman and my mother admitting herself to a mental institution due to the inability to cope with her shattered life.  When she released herself the police were with her to pick up my brother, sister, and me from my grandparents.  They did not feel like my mother was fit to raise us.  Even today, 18 years later, the whole ordeal is just a blur in my memory.  What an experience.

Things eventually settled down and returned to some semblance of normalcy.  Mom was working forty hours a week and carrying a full load in college.  She wasn't around much.  There was no one there to tell about the school day or to fix a hot dinner.  Mom's not to blame, she just wanted a better life for all of us.

All the hard work Mom was doing eventually paid off.  She now has her master's degree and is one of the most respected professionals involved with drug counseling in this community.  She had to make a lot of sacrifices to get what she wanted and so desperately needed.  Mom had a great drive to make something out of her life.  The living example she provided instilled me with a desire for success with a never say die attitude.

How did all of this contribute to my personal growth?  While I was learning from my mother's example I was also dealing with the difficulties of growing up on my own.  I figured out how to deal with day to day problems on my own.  I made choices concerning my future on my own.  I was forced to look at options and weigh the consequences of my own actions.  My friends had their parents telling them what to do.  It didn't seem fair.  In retrospect, this responsibility made me the independent person that I am today.  I am not afraid to accept new challenges.  I am confident I will make the right decisions.

I no longer ask myself if life is like television.  America is not Hollywood and I am glad.  I would like to think that my tumultuous youth worked in my favor and made me a better person in the real world in which we live.