One Door Closes as Another Door Opens

One approach Closes, as roughly other(prenominal) Door Opens Growing up in San Diego, calcium in a tumefy(p) blooded Portuguese family, complete with the grandparents from the white-haired country and the western more contemporary parents was a rattling vivid upbringing. My grand bring forth and render had many old wives regulateings and tales that were the foundation of they way the reacted to conduct. Although raised(a) in the apprehension and guilt that is known as the Catholic religion, my mother always reminded me that even when some(a)thing bad happens, something good will come of it. without delay in my Christian life, our Pastor Aaron refers to it as When maven gate closes, another will open in its place.In this reflective paper I will describe how my life experiences, some which were tragic and traumatic and closed in(p) that chapter in my life, many times a new opening opened, normally with a more positive outcome. Child molestation, becoming a leave at 2 6 years of age, and alcoholism are just a few of the obstacles I endured in my life. I will explain how some terrific experiences evolved from these obstacles. I was raised in family of four daughters. I was the second base youngest and considered the middle child. My ii onetime(a) sisters were seven and eight years older than me.My mother use to say it was like raising two daughters, two at a time. By the time my older sisters married and move out, my junior sister and I were just st ruseing adolescence. My siblings and I cohabitated in one subtile bedroom with two sets of bunk beds in our small two bedroom home. My stick was a hard laddering ikon contractor and my mother was a stay at home housewife. My father drank unremarkable, and my mother spent her days meticulously cleaning our home. My childhood memories were full of large family get in concerts with aunts and uncles and all the cousins, grandparents and other Portuguese friends.The women would cook ethnical cuis ine and the men would play cards, gather rough and play musical theater instruments like the guitar, mandolin, and drums. My father played the spoons and bones that were carved from ivory. My father was the comedian, join of attention, and the guy who would put the lamp shade on his head by and by a few beers. I have shared that personality trait with him since I was very young. My sisters and I would sing and dance for the large gatherings. As a young girl, maybe eight years old, I remember version a National Geographic Magazine article slightly Oregon.I told my mother I was going to live there some day. The tall trees and the mountains of cat valium versus the San Diego hills of houses piled on top of one another, was very pleasing to me. Even at that young age, Hollands personality theory of career satisfaction (Witt and Mossler, 2010) was apparent. My pauperism for self brass instrumentt came out through and through drawing pictures of those beautiful mountains and shar e-out them with my friends and family. I was already leaning towards the artistic and social aspects of his theory. When I was around 11 years old a neighbor who was in his mid-forties sexually molested me.His wife could not have children, so they would invite me and my junior sister for sleep all overs. She had no clue the molestation was happening. She was always so sweet and caring to us. I was so terrified to go over there any more that I started making excuses. Having to give up my interaction with her is my first memory of a doorstep closing. I started to let rebellious as the anger and resentment ate me up inside. alcohol became my escape at the early age of 12. I would sneak vodka from my public address systems liquor cabinet, and take it to middle in hold to put in my lemonade at lunch. My world was closing in all around me.It was in 8th grade that I had an art class that opened another door to me. I would engulf myself in that class everyday and work hard on project s at home. I had found a passing for the anger, and a way to channel it into something positive. I was modifying my behavior without realizing it. Art became a prevalent give of my life. I would write poetry which was my form of a journal and I would draw for hours on end. It was in high school where I met my first kip down. I had run away from home after an argument with my parents and stayed at a friend of my younger sisters house.His parents were understanding and let me stay there for a week. My parents knew where I was at, and they probably welcomed the break from me, as much as I did from them. I barbarous head over heels for him. The closeness and love was so tremendous. I had not been that happy since I was a little girl. We stayed together for two wonderful years. I began to trust again which opened another door that was erstwhile closed. I graduated high school with a 4. 0 grade point average and wanted to join the military. That dream would change when I met my fir st hus roofy. mac and I met at a co op softball game that some friends took me too.He was muscular and athletic. We flirted a bit. I started to have those warm fuzzy lookings again. We go in together after dating for 6 months. My parents were furious, but I was an adult. He had been to Oregon for a summer and I was fascinated with his stories. That alike(p) year we loaded up the Volkswagen bug and headed to Oregon. mackintosh wanted to be a fisherman so we move to Newport. We gave birth to our daughter April in 1976 and my son Smokey in 1977. Life was hard but we managed to get by. In 1980, Mac had intractable he wanted to go to Alaska for a assuage because the money was much better up there.He left in whitethorn of that year, came back to see me and the kids for my birthday in June and headed back up in August. That was the sustain I saw of him. He dr have on Labor daylight weekend, 2 days before April was to start Kindergarten. Smokey was 4 years old. gratuitous to say, the children and I were devastated. How were we going to live and how on earth was a 26 year old mother of two going to survive? I moved inland to the Willamette Valley and started our new life. It was then that my career in the food and beverage industry came into play.I had worked a few waitress and bartending frolics part time, but now I had to make all the income to support us. Mac hadnt paid much into Social Security so that disability was more like a stipend than enough to live on. I worked and worked sometimes 2 and even 3 jobs to get by. I finally got a great fulltime, good paying job at the tearing Lion Inn as a pantry chef. This door helped to assure my artistic and social characteristics even more. Creating beautiful food was an art form and the plate was my canvas. All the colors and placement of the final product was very satisfying.Having a network of co workers really enhanced my social life. I was moving on and becoming the person I wanted to be.. happy. My chil dren were now in high school and growing into their own wonderful beings. I also worked 2 nights a week as the Karaoke hostess at the Inn. That job was a great outlet for my self expression and social life. I gained the courage to audition for a local band and became the lead singer and keyboard player. Another door opens. Both of my children graduated and moved on. My daughter went on to Oregon State University and my son went to work instal home and auto audio systems.I moved back to the coast because my younger sister, who had since moved to Oregon, was going through a rough time. Her husband was losing his scrap with cancer. He died later that year. It was while living in Waldport, Oregon, that I affix an ad in the matchmaker section of a local newspaper. I was lonely. It was there that I met my last husband. We dated for a while and life seemed pretty good. We ended moving in together where he owned a home in Lebanon. So back to the Valley I went. I obtained a job as a teac hers aide working in the title one program with dim-witted school students.I also coached the high school cheerleading squad. Life was going wellor so I thought. My husband became very controlling and pressured me into getting a better paying job. He had a great job and money was never an issue, but he was extremely materialistic. He convince me that I should grow a Realtor, so I took the course, received my indorse and sold real estate for 8 years. The verbal and now material abuse had escalated. I finally packed my bags, filed for divorce and moved out. That door slammed shut By now I had become pretty tone down to bad things happening in my life which I had little or no control over.Once again alcohol reared its ugly head in my life. This went on for about a year when I finally decided I had had enough. I started writing my thoughts again and decided I am going back to school. I was 52 years old. I enrolled at a local community college and focused on academics for the firs t term. and so I signed up for a couple of art classes and that became the door that opened up my life so dramatically and positively. My creative juices were menstruation again. I had my self- confidence back, and I was expressing my artistic and social self again.I entered several(prenominal) of my works in art shows and won a few awards. I felt like I was back on top. I deal that even though I had some terrible life experiences that I will never forget, they all opened up doors for me to grow and become the woman I knew God had created me to be. Divorce often leaves turned on(p) scars that last a bulky time. Both men and women usually experience emotional challenges after divorce, including loneliness, lower self-esteem, worry about the prospective, difficulty forming new relationships, fear of failure in new relationships and depression (Amato, 2006).I can honestly say I have experienced all the above mentioned, but I am learning to cope effectively and the impact has less ened for me. My goals for my future are emphasizing the importance of an education to my grandchildren, accomplishing and receiving my Bachelors in Fine liberal arts with the focus on Early Childhood Education and using what I have learned to teach art to children and to volunteer teaching art to senior citizens.I feel with my artistic and social personality characteristics as explained by Hollands theory, (Witt and Mossler, 2010) that I will have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children. Art and the expression of art have salve my lifenumerous times. Another door that has opened for me is very exciting. I have reconnected with my first love from high school on face book. He still lives in California and we talk and text everyday on the phone. He will be visiting me soon. We have rekindled our love and I truly believe that we are going to be together again.With all I have learned from my past relationships I feel this will be the best ever Relationship history is not your relationship future (David Niven Ph. D). Your Relationship future is not limited by your experiences of the past or by your disappointments of the past. You can learn from your experiences and avoid mistakes of the past. In conclusion, I have learned a great deal about myself through my life experiences. I know that I am a strong, resilient individual.I have had numerous negative circumstances happen in my life, several of which were beyond my control. I did manage to survive them all, and grew from this multitude of trials and tribulations. intuition has prevailed and blessed my soul and heart. I embrace the adventures that lie ahead. When one door of happiness closes, another opens (Helen Keller) but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. I have learned to move forward through the open door and to welcome all that it has to offer.