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I am born
Berdie and Robert Vega had a sweet baby girl. The last of five children. -
Severe recession begins in the US
My parents began working longer hours, but spilt their shifts so that my brother and I always had one of them around. -
First Day of Kindergarten
Mom and Dad had walked me to the bus stop that morning. My big brother, who is five years older than me, rode his bike to school. My parents expectation for kindergarten back then was to have fun not just the academics. -
Dad is diagnosed with Leukemia
My Dad hadn't been feeling well and went to the doctor. By that evening he had been admitted to the hospital for tests. I felt that my mom needed us to be strong, so that she could handle one situation at a time. -
Christmas in the hospital
I remember opening my gifts on the floor of my dad's hospital room floor. We were at the hospital every night with my dad for a year. It was my normal. I didn't stop to think that this was not what other kids lives were like. -
Dad loses fight with Leukemia
After a year long fight and before bone marrow transplants were deemed the norm for this illness, my father lost his fight with cancer. My mom now needed my brother and myself to help aound the house and help take care of each other. -
First Day at a New School
We bought a new house across town, which meant we were going to new school. No bus, now I walk to school everyday. At eight I was expected to wake up, get ready, eat breakfast and off to school all by myself. After school I was expected to walk home alone to an empty house. -
Mom gets Remarried
My Mom ends up marrying one of the most important people in my life, Joe. I was eight years old when he entered our lives and has been my DAD in every way since. -
Gulf War
We had family members that were deployed for this war. Parents expectations of all the family children were to be strong and have faith that they would be ok and return home safely. -
Dance Caravan
I left for a national dance tour for seven weeks. I danced everyday for 8 hours a day in dance worshops taught by professional dancers and choreographers. With performances every night in a different city every three days, I was exhausted, but happy! My mom knew that I was capable of taking care of myself for seven weeks. -
Graduate High School
My parents only concern was, what was I going to do next. Since neither of them went to college that was not an expectation it was a bonus. -
Start College @ GCC
My parents were proud because I was the first one in my family to go to college. -
Met Husband: Tim
We met through mutual friends at a welcome home party for Tim's friend returning from boot camp. A good friend, Tanya, was the one to invite me to this party. -
Left College for well paying job.
After a few years of college I hadn't decided what I wanted to do. Tim had proposed and we wanted to start our lives together soon. Then an opportunity was presented in a well paying job that could become a career. My friend Kristine had been working for this company for a while and enjoyed her job. I accepted the postion and our lives together could begin. -
Married
Great beginning to a lifetime of adventures. -
9/11
I was pregnant with my first child and was terrified that I was bringing a child into a world where this was happening. I worked for an insurance company at the time and heard first hand what they were dealing with in New York. All business was routed to the West so everyone could gather themselves in the East. -
Gave birth to our first daughter.
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Left work force to stay at home with my brand new baby girl.
Tim and I decided that with budgeting and sacrifice I would be able to become a stay at home mom. It was a hard decision to make, but it has definitely been worth it. -
Gave birth to our second daughter
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First job in a preschool setting
For the last three months of the school year a friend of mine needed an assistant in her preschool classroom. Up until then I had only volunteered in my daughter's preschool classrooms. I fell in love with teaching preschool. This is when I decided I knew what I wanted to do. Become a Special Ed Preschool teacher. -
College later in life
Now here I am after spending the the last 11 years staying at home with my two beautiful daughters, starting a new phase in my life, going back to school.