CrzyMeg
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Who I am Today: A Journey to New Life
By Megan Mizell
My name is Megan. This story is based on my life. These events occurs in my life is true.
I was born in Fresno, California on January 6, 1990. When I was born, I was a healthy baby until someone accidentally brought me to nursery room with all sickly infants. I caught a disease from one of them. A disease called “Whooping Cough.” I have that disease and high fever. I almost died from it. I didn’t have any shots to prevent the disease. It was too late. The disease causes my deafness in my both ears and blindness in my right eyes. I knew there were no cure for deafness or blindness.
My mother, Darlene, didn’t know that I was deaf until three years old. She thought that I was ignoring her every time she tried to call me by my name. At this moment, I wonder if she ever pick a hint that I was deaf. She have ignored all the signs of my deafness. I gotten in trouble every time I couldn’t hear calling me.
One day, my aunt came over to the house, she also tried called me by my name, but she did call me once and immediately pick the hint. She came behind me and taps my shoulder. I turn around and look up at her. My aunt told my mother about it.
My mother took me to the doctor and doctor says that I am deaf. The doctor recommended hearing aids for both of my ears and a specialist to improve my speech. I knew my mother don’t have that kind of money. Somehow, she manages to get what I needed. I am grateful for what she did. The specialist who help me so much, she did it perfectly.
When I gotten my first hearing aids, I was terrified of sounds that I heard. Those sounds were so wonderful. I can speak now and very clearly. Hearing aids were very helpful to me.
I do not know when I became blinded in my right eyes. I didn’t wear glasses either. I did have one. My mother didn’t me wear them, so my eye sight decrease over the years. I did wear once time, but when I look up in the mirror and saw myself as freak with four eyes. I thought glasses were ridicule.
When I started in kindergarten, my teacher helps me so much. She help me with my deafness. She was so kind. First thing I remembered that I was blowing bubbles and fish sounds, it was funny.
One day, a horrible event have occurred, my mother’s boyfriend, David, was carrying some of lumbers in his arms. Wham! He hit me on my cheek. It was so bloody. The wound touch my mouth and near my eye. I ran up to my mother. I was crying. She seem to not care or at least to help me clean up. She doesn’t care.
At this moment, I wonder why she allowed this to happen. I ran down hill to the bus stop. My older sister was waiting for me at bus stop. She saw me bleeding and she tried to help me clean up, but the bus was coming. On the bus, my sister protected me from students on bus.
Next thing I did when I arrived at the school, was bawling at my kindergarten teacher. Immediately, she knew what is going on. I am the first in my family have the courage to tell someone about my mother’s abusive boyfriend.
My kindergarten teacher took me to nurse office to clean up. I was in sleep for day. I do not know what the nurse did to my cheek like stitching. I woke up in the principle office. I told the principle what happen that morning. My sister were already there with me. The principle call the police after school was over. The police officers pick us up and other police officers went to the house to pick up Jessica and my baby brother, William. They took us to the front of the small white courthouse. We all waited. And then they split us up to different foster homes. We haven’t seen each other in couple years. We did see our mother couple times a month where we meet as family under a supervisor. Our mother got pregnant again by David. Her name is Michelle.
And then we stayed with our mother for a year. There were a lot things happens in within a year. Our mother had another child name Katherine but we called her Kathy. Katherine is the last child. There are six of us, in order by birth, Ambrelle, Megan, Jessica, William, Michelle, and Katherine. Our mother rented an apartment. The apartment is two stories building, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, one kitchen, and one living room and back patio.
Our mother is not very good mother. She does not know how take care of us. We got so much stuffs that we don’t know where things are. They were everywhere. We have so much stuffs that we couldn’t find our baby sister. We have to call police. They found her under my mother’s king size bed. They say that the house was the big mess that you cannot find anything that you might want to find.
When my siblings do something wrong, I took the blame for it without knowing what they did. My mother assume that it was I. I ended up in trouble. I think our mother need to pay attention little more to us than herself. I began to wonder if she was doing things that she wanted to do or just ignoring our basic needs or both. There were one best memory about that apartment. We had a big cardboard box and we made in to a sleigh. We got on it and slide it down stairs. We had good laugh about it.
One day when my siblings went school and I stayed behind since I was sick. I remember when I was walking down the stairs. When I arrive at bottom of the stairs, I threw up. It look like a muddy puddle on the carpet. My mother trying hard get off the carpet and it never did. Next day, I was feeling a little better, and I wanted go to school. Darlene said no. Later that day, back of my neck was at the rail of the stairs. She almost choking me to death. I was so glad I was alive at this moment. This was my third escape from death. It just was another horrible event. My neck all the way around was so red… What is going on her mind? What is wrong with her? Why she treated me that way? Those questions were never answered but I still thought about them. My family was spilt up again and back to foster care system until July 10, 1999.
On the July 10, 1999, our caretakers and my two sisters, Ambrelle and Jessica, and I took two flights to get to Pensacola, Florida. There were two caretakers and they are women. They didn’t like me one bit. Is there something about me that they don’t like? Is it my deafness? They do not know that I can speak or hear. She hold my hand tightly and wouldn’t let go. Are they afraid that I might wander off and get lost?
We arrived in Pensacola at Pensacola International Airport. We getting off airport while our unknown relatives waiting for us. We did not know that we have any relatives. Our mother didn’t say much about them. We met at the waiting area. Our great uncle Larry Buxton and his wife Shirley Buxton waiting for us. Aunt Donna and my cousin Jonathon were there too.
Our uncle and aunt, we call them mom and dad later in time when we felt comfortable around them. Dad have two kids with Shirley. Their names are Michael and Jonathon. Dad already have a daughter from previous marriage. Her name is Christine, she have three children: Matthew, Nick, and Lucas. My mom’s sister name is Donna Bales. She and her husband adopted two children: Kara and Destiny Bales. My mom’s mother, her name is Inez, and I called her my grandmother. I do not have any grandparents, since they already died before I was born. Mom and Dad, they took care of me for almost nine years. I love them so much. I treated them if they were my real parents. My older sister left for college at U.S.A. when she was 17 years old, and then dropped out during second semester. She couldn’t do it. She move to Maine. She doesn’t want to follow the rules at our house.
I attended at West Pensacola Elementary School when I was in fourth and fifth grade. Amazing thing just happen to me during that year, a deaf Russian girl name Aliona, she came to my school. My teacher, Mrs. Deale, she requested me to teach her sign language. I am a mainstream student. I have some time to teach her Sign Exact English. She was learning so quickly. It was difficult to communicate with her at first but it was success. We rode bus together daily. I taught her more sign language on the bus. It was fun. She was my second best friend.
I attended a boarding school in St. Augustine. A boarding school name Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (FSDB). I was in sixth grade at the time. I have to travel from Pensacola to St. Augustine two times week. It was six hours drive from Pensacola to St. Augustine. I visited my family one time week. FSDB was a big place and have so many buildings. It was hard for me to count them all.
I was popular there, mostly boys. Boys like me because I was cute not as a friend. I only have two good friends, Jociane and Josh. They were kind to me. They had been there for long time. Girls at my dorm, they hated me. I don’t know why. They hated me at first moment they met me. Is it because of the boys? Not my fault that boys thought I was cute. I was stuck with the girls all day and all night everyday except for the weekend. I didn’t like the dorm very much. The staffs and girls were very mean. Some of the girls were thieves. They were stealing some my stuffs. I have to lock everything up.
On Sunday afternoon when we stop at Arby’s, we have chicken strips, fries, and sprite every Sunday afternoon until last few week of school left. Lunchmeat sandwiches every Friday for dinner on the way home. I am not a lunchmeat sandwiches fan. The lunchmeat was to dry for my own taste. I was so picky about foods. The cafeteria, they didn’t do very good job cooking foods. Foods weren’t cook thoroughly. I only drink water or Gatorade, except when I get to the dorm and I pick up some snacks. I hate traveling weekly.
School is okay but was below my education level especially math. I like the teachers; they were helpful to me especially reading. Reading wasn’t my favorite subject at school. I have poor skills in reading. I just have a problem to comprehend the story or passages in the book. I was almost a Straight A’s student. I am not perfect. At least I wasn’t trying to.
I attended at Workman Middle School in seventh and eighth grade. I also stay after school in cafeteria by staffs from YMCA. I also was in sports, cross-country and track. I was on the track team in eighth grade, cross-country in seventh grade. I was also a student of year in eighth grade right after track season was over. Our track team was champions that year. I attended fully mainstream classes. Classes were challenging and above my education level. When I first attended in English class in my seventh grade school year, I just found out that I wasn’t very good in vocabulary either. Vocabulary wasn’t my strong suite.
I attended at Booker T. Washington Senior High. I am in class of 2008. Teachers and staffs of Booker T. Washington Senior High, they helped me so much over the years. I am ready for graduation with my class.
My favorite subjects in school are math and American Sign Language. Both of those subjects are my strong suites. My plans for future are to attend college at Pensacola Junior College and University of West Florida. I wanted to be a teacher. I love to teach. I have been teaching to some of the students at school.
One thing I learned that education wasn’t always free in some countries, like Brazil, students who wanted to learn more education have to pay for high school and college. This country is truly free of education, religions, and rights to do certain things. This country is the first of this world. “We desired freedom of choices. We do things what we wanted to do. Not everything is free but free choices.” I know this country is not perfect. “People come this come to this country because they wanted what we have in this country, freedom of choices.”
Comment if you like.
By Megan Mizell
My name is Megan. This story is based on my life. These events occurs in my life is true.
I was born in Fresno, California on January 6, 1990. When I was born, I was a healthy baby until someone accidentally brought me to nursery room with all sickly infants. I caught a disease from one of them. A disease called “Whooping Cough.” I have that disease and high fever. I almost died from it. I didn’t have any shots to prevent the disease. It was too late. The disease causes my deafness in my both ears and blindness in my right eyes. I knew there were no cure for deafness or blindness.
My mother, Darlene, didn’t know that I was deaf until three years old. She thought that I was ignoring her every time she tried to call me by my name. At this moment, I wonder if she ever pick a hint that I was deaf. She have ignored all the signs of my deafness. I gotten in trouble every time I couldn’t hear calling me.
One day, my aunt came over to the house, she also tried called me by my name, but she did call me once and immediately pick the hint. She came behind me and taps my shoulder. I turn around and look up at her. My aunt told my mother about it.
My mother took me to the doctor and doctor says that I am deaf. The doctor recommended hearing aids for both of my ears and a specialist to improve my speech. I knew my mother don’t have that kind of money. Somehow, she manages to get what I needed. I am grateful for what she did. The specialist who help me so much, she did it perfectly.
When I gotten my first hearing aids, I was terrified of sounds that I heard. Those sounds were so wonderful. I can speak now and very clearly. Hearing aids were very helpful to me.
I do not know when I became blinded in my right eyes. I didn’t wear glasses either. I did have one. My mother didn’t me wear them, so my eye sight decrease over the years. I did wear once time, but when I look up in the mirror and saw myself as freak with four eyes. I thought glasses were ridicule.
When I started in kindergarten, my teacher helps me so much. She help me with my deafness. She was so kind. First thing I remembered that I was blowing bubbles and fish sounds, it was funny.
One day, a horrible event have occurred, my mother’s boyfriend, David, was carrying some of lumbers in his arms. Wham! He hit me on my cheek. It was so bloody. The wound touch my mouth and near my eye. I ran up to my mother. I was crying. She seem to not care or at least to help me clean up. She doesn’t care.
At this moment, I wonder why she allowed this to happen. I ran down hill to the bus stop. My older sister was waiting for me at bus stop. She saw me bleeding and she tried to help me clean up, but the bus was coming. On the bus, my sister protected me from students on bus.
Next thing I did when I arrived at the school, was bawling at my kindergarten teacher. Immediately, she knew what is going on. I am the first in my family have the courage to tell someone about my mother’s abusive boyfriend.
My kindergarten teacher took me to nurse office to clean up. I was in sleep for day. I do not know what the nurse did to my cheek like stitching. I woke up in the principle office. I told the principle what happen that morning. My sister were already there with me. The principle call the police after school was over. The police officers pick us up and other police officers went to the house to pick up Jessica and my baby brother, William. They took us to the front of the small white courthouse. We all waited. And then they split us up to different foster homes. We haven’t seen each other in couple years. We did see our mother couple times a month where we meet as family under a supervisor. Our mother got pregnant again by David. Her name is Michelle.
And then we stayed with our mother for a year. There were a lot things happens in within a year. Our mother had another child name Katherine but we called her Kathy. Katherine is the last child. There are six of us, in order by birth, Ambrelle, Megan, Jessica, William, Michelle, and Katherine. Our mother rented an apartment. The apartment is two stories building, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, one kitchen, and one living room and back patio.
Our mother is not very good mother. She does not know how take care of us. We got so much stuffs that we don’t know where things are. They were everywhere. We have so much stuffs that we couldn’t find our baby sister. We have to call police. They found her under my mother’s king size bed. They say that the house was the big mess that you cannot find anything that you might want to find.
When my siblings do something wrong, I took the blame for it without knowing what they did. My mother assume that it was I. I ended up in trouble. I think our mother need to pay attention little more to us than herself. I began to wonder if she was doing things that she wanted to do or just ignoring our basic needs or both. There were one best memory about that apartment. We had a big cardboard box and we made in to a sleigh. We got on it and slide it down stairs. We had good laugh about it.
One day when my siblings went school and I stayed behind since I was sick. I remember when I was walking down the stairs. When I arrive at bottom of the stairs, I threw up. It look like a muddy puddle on the carpet. My mother trying hard get off the carpet and it never did. Next day, I was feeling a little better, and I wanted go to school. Darlene said no. Later that day, back of my neck was at the rail of the stairs. She almost choking me to death. I was so glad I was alive at this moment. This was my third escape from death. It just was another horrible event. My neck all the way around was so red… What is going on her mind? What is wrong with her? Why she treated me that way? Those questions were never answered but I still thought about them. My family was spilt up again and back to foster care system until July 10, 1999.
On the July 10, 1999, our caretakers and my two sisters, Ambrelle and Jessica, and I took two flights to get to Pensacola, Florida. There were two caretakers and they are women. They didn’t like me one bit. Is there something about me that they don’t like? Is it my deafness? They do not know that I can speak or hear. She hold my hand tightly and wouldn’t let go. Are they afraid that I might wander off and get lost?
We arrived in Pensacola at Pensacola International Airport. We getting off airport while our unknown relatives waiting for us. We did not know that we have any relatives. Our mother didn’t say much about them. We met at the waiting area. Our great uncle Larry Buxton and his wife Shirley Buxton waiting for us. Aunt Donna and my cousin Jonathon were there too.
Our uncle and aunt, we call them mom and dad later in time when we felt comfortable around them. Dad have two kids with Shirley. Their names are Michael and Jonathon. Dad already have a daughter from previous marriage. Her name is Christine, she have three children: Matthew, Nick, and Lucas. My mom’s sister name is Donna Bales. She and her husband adopted two children: Kara and Destiny Bales. My mom’s mother, her name is Inez, and I called her my grandmother. I do not have any grandparents, since they already died before I was born. Mom and Dad, they took care of me for almost nine years. I love them so much. I treated them if they were my real parents. My older sister left for college at U.S.A. when she was 17 years old, and then dropped out during second semester. She couldn’t do it. She move to Maine. She doesn’t want to follow the rules at our house.
I attended at West Pensacola Elementary School when I was in fourth and fifth grade. Amazing thing just happen to me during that year, a deaf Russian girl name Aliona, she came to my school. My teacher, Mrs. Deale, she requested me to teach her sign language. I am a mainstream student. I have some time to teach her Sign Exact English. She was learning so quickly. It was difficult to communicate with her at first but it was success. We rode bus together daily. I taught her more sign language on the bus. It was fun. She was my second best friend.
I attended a boarding school in St. Augustine. A boarding school name Florida School for the Deaf and Blind (FSDB). I was in sixth grade at the time. I have to travel from Pensacola to St. Augustine two times week. It was six hours drive from Pensacola to St. Augustine. I visited my family one time week. FSDB was a big place and have so many buildings. It was hard for me to count them all.
I was popular there, mostly boys. Boys like me because I was cute not as a friend. I only have two good friends, Jociane and Josh. They were kind to me. They had been there for long time. Girls at my dorm, they hated me. I don’t know why. They hated me at first moment they met me. Is it because of the boys? Not my fault that boys thought I was cute. I was stuck with the girls all day and all night everyday except for the weekend. I didn’t like the dorm very much. The staffs and girls were very mean. Some of the girls were thieves. They were stealing some my stuffs. I have to lock everything up.
On Sunday afternoon when we stop at Arby’s, we have chicken strips, fries, and sprite every Sunday afternoon until last few week of school left. Lunchmeat sandwiches every Friday for dinner on the way home. I am not a lunchmeat sandwiches fan. The lunchmeat was to dry for my own taste. I was so picky about foods. The cafeteria, they didn’t do very good job cooking foods. Foods weren’t cook thoroughly. I only drink water or Gatorade, except when I get to the dorm and I pick up some snacks. I hate traveling weekly.
School is okay but was below my education level especially math. I like the teachers; they were helpful to me especially reading. Reading wasn’t my favorite subject at school. I have poor skills in reading. I just have a problem to comprehend the story or passages in the book. I was almost a Straight A’s student. I am not perfect. At least I wasn’t trying to.
I attended at Workman Middle School in seventh and eighth grade. I also stay after school in cafeteria by staffs from YMCA. I also was in sports, cross-country and track. I was on the track team in eighth grade, cross-country in seventh grade. I was also a student of year in eighth grade right after track season was over. Our track team was champions that year. I attended fully mainstream classes. Classes were challenging and above my education level. When I first attended in English class in my seventh grade school year, I just found out that I wasn’t very good in vocabulary either. Vocabulary wasn’t my strong suite.
I attended at Booker T. Washington Senior High. I am in class of 2008. Teachers and staffs of Booker T. Washington Senior High, they helped me so much over the years. I am ready for graduation with my class.
My favorite subjects in school are math and American Sign Language. Both of those subjects are my strong suites. My plans for future are to attend college at Pensacola Junior College and University of West Florida. I wanted to be a teacher. I love to teach. I have been teaching to some of the students at school.
One thing I learned that education wasn’t always free in some countries, like Brazil, students who wanted to learn more education have to pay for high school and college. This country is truly free of education, religions, and rights to do certain things. This country is the first of this world. “We desired freedom of choices. We do things what we wanted to do. Not everything is free but free choices.” I know this country is not perfect. “People come this come to this country because they wanted what we have in this country, freedom of choices.”
Comment if you like.
