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Birth
I was born on the morning of December 8th, 1998 to Michele and Bernard Haines. I was fortunate enough to be born with an automatic companion, my twin sister Samantha, who was born just one minute before I was. The opportunity to become who I am came from being born healthy. Being born to this specific family resulted me to be raised a certain way which overall formed my personality. -
Grandmother's death
At this point in my life I had pretty much spent everyday with my grandmother because she lived with us. Even when she was in the hospital I would talk to her everyday so when the news came that she had died it hit me hard.I remember running to my parents room,locking myself in, and just crying for hours when news of her death came. This was my first experience of intense emotional pain. Her death ended my thought cycle about everything lasting and therefore my view of life had changed. -
Thirteenth Birthday
My parents were functioning alcoholics and sometimes my dad would get a bit out of control. The morning started with me breaking up a fist fight between Sam and my dad by throwing a binder at the wall. To make it up to us, my dad picked us up from school early. Sam then put him in a bad mood by having a fit about his action. He then got drunk and verbally abused us that entire night. This event showed me the underlying problems in my family and ultimately made me a more reserved person. -
Joining middle school Jazz band
Originally I wasn't interested in joining jazz band but I instantly fell in love with it after Sam dragged me to a rehearsal. There were two players better than me but they both decided to quit, which made me the first chair trumpet player as a seventh grader. This drove me to take playing music more seriously, made me a better musician and was basically the beginning of the growth of my love of playing trumpet. -
Dad's Stroke
The doctor said that the chance of stroke was high so keep him calm, yet we spent most of our time arguing with him and therefore I blame myself for my dad's stroke. He came home a sad and weak person and I had to grow up and take care of him. I spent every day with him, gave him his pills, food and drinks. I had to walk him to the bathroom and cleaned up when he didn't make it in time. He constantly cried and pleaded for death. I became a stronger person but also an emotionally unstable one. -
My first trumpet solo
In honors band in eighth grade I was given my first solo in the band. It was in a song named "The Last Rose of Summer". I remember this was the most difficult song to piece together and the night of the concert my solo is what prevented the piece from falling apart. My music teacher at the time came up to me after the concert, congratulated me and told me how much I had improved. This event made me a more confident musician and drove me to strive for greater things. -
Joining Marching Band
When I joined marching band I was immediately praised by most of the people in my section. They were amazed at the level in which I could play and immediately put me on first part. My section leader Olivia would constantly compliment me and make me an example for the section. One of the drum majors used to call me "prodigy trumpet girl". This led me to work hard to continue to live up to their expectations and ultimately turned what was a hobby into my only passion. -
First serious break up
My first break up is the event that caused me to snap for the first time. I was dating this guy for about seventeen months when he decided to leave me for someone else. With everything going on in my life this caused all of the emotions I held inside to pour out and resulted in me being in a state of immense sadness for months. It made me into a ghost of my former self for months until one day I realized I shouldn't be this way. Overall it caused me to become a stronger, more sensible person. -
Becoming section leader
I became section leader in my junior year of high school. This was the first experience I had leading a group of people. I helped people learn music, marching and their drill spots. I made speeches before performances as well as organized and led sectionals throughout the season. This experience made me break out of my shell and showed me how outgoing I can really be. It also gave me the skills to properly talk to new people without getting overly nervous. -
My senior year of highschool
My senior year of high school has completely changed my outlook on life. I got my first job, got paid for a professional trumpet gig, got multiple awards and got accepted into my number one college. The amount of things that I have accomplished have increased my confidence tenfold and brought me out of a rut that I've been in for years. It formed me into the excitable happy person I currently am.