My Life – Past, Present, and Future
PSY 202
Julie DeLoria

July 28, 2012

My Life-Past, Present, and Present

I. What was my family like? A. Growing up in a family of six B. Oldest of four children C. Father dying at a young age
II. What are some of your favorite memories? A. Christmas at my Aunt’s House B. Fourth of July at my grandparents’ house C. Camping trips with family members
III. What jobs have you had in your lifetime? A. Working in retail B. Working in factory C. Working in health care
IV. What are your greatest achievements so far? A. Being married for twenty-five years B. Raising a family
C. Choosing my Social Work Degree My Life- Past, Present, and Future

I never thought in my forty-five years of life that I would be where I am today. Yes, I had planned to graduate from high school then move on to college. A totally whimsical time in my life sent me down a totally different path than anticipated after graduation.. I will present in this paper a look at my life’s experience using the adult theories which we have studied in our class. I will also look ahead at some of my future goals I have planned to accomplish for myself. I grew up in a very modest average family of six. Our family was a pretty close nit family pretty much. Of course we had our ups and down; but what family didn’t have their bad times. To me it just made our bonds between each other that much stronger. Both my parents came from average families also. They met through mutual friends; then dated for about two months. The relationship grew from there and as they say the rest is history. Me being the oldest of four siblings was quiet the experience. By being the oldest I know that it has played a big role in who I am today. I can honestly say this by looking back at the experiences that my siblings have gone through. Not saying by no means that I haven’t made off the wall choices in my life. I can honestly say nothing has made me look back and regret where my path has taken me. Just took me longer to get here but definitely made me a rather strong person. My father passed at the young age of forty six. This was a really hard time for our family. My sister was twenty one years old and I was twenty four years old. My two younger brothers were ages eight and eleven when my father passed away. It was a really big blow to our family seeing as he was only going into the hospital for some standard tests. My sister had went to the hospital to visit him when she got off only to find he had gone into cardiac arrest before she got there. I can say the one or ones most affected by this loss would be my two younger brothers. After my dad died my mother remarried four months later. My step father wasn’t the nicest to my brothers. He was harder on my youngest brother; I feel because my younger brother reminded my step father of his self at Joe’s age. It really impacted my brother as he grew older. He has issues with authority giving him instructions. He takes it as telling him what to do. Frued states “that our early childhood experiences and memories play a central role in personality development and its inherent problems.” (Witt and Mosler, 2.2 Sigmund Freud and Psychoanalytical Theory, para. 3) Some of most memorable times growing up were Christmas’ at my aunt’s house, fourth of July’s spent at my grandparent’s and camping trips with my cousins. The Christmas that was the most memorable were those spent with my aunt Peggy. We lived in Brownwood, Texas at the time and my aunt lived in San Saba, Texas I can remember the anticipation of loading up the car and heading to San Saba. On our way we were about two thirds of the way when “boom’ the back tire blows. Being about nine years of age that was the most devastating thing that could happen on Christmas eve. My dad reassured me that we would be at my aunt’s house and in bed before Santa Clause would arrive. The superman my dad was he was right we were back on the road in no time. We reached my aunt’s house in time to watch the last of “Rudolph” on television before turning in for the night. Climbing out of bed the next morning and going to the living room and seeing my big green shiny new bike. It had the neatest woven basket attached to the front of the handle bars. My aunt came out of her room and said I have something to complete that shiny new bike. She handed me this little present she had kept just for this morning. I ripped it open to find a nice compact radio to set in my basket so when I ride I can listen to tunes. I was so ecstatic I thought I was the “bomb digity.” Then there was the big meal that was so wonderful as well before we finally would load up and head home. Another wonderful memory growing up was going to my grandparents on the Fourth of July. This was a day we celebrated every year with watermelon and homemade ice cream. It was a special day of celebration. It was my grandpa’s birthday. We would set out in the yard by the big shade tree and eat watermelon and homemade ice cream until we thought we were going to pop. Then when it got dark we could sit outside and watch the neighborhood set off fireworks. It was such a peaceful time in my life. Then finally there were the many camping trips that were spent during the summer with our family. The one that stands out in my mind the most is the big camping trip we took to Trickham, Texas for a three day weekend. On this trip it was my aunt Peggy, Uncle Jack, mom dad, my sister and I. Before getting to our destination there was a back road that always had jumbo grasshoppers crawling on the road. My dad would have me and my sister get out and walk the road to catch the grasshoppers where we would then put them in minnow buckets. . I remember when we arrived our first priority was going with my dad and uncle out on the flat bottom boat to set up trot lines. Then once all trot lines were in place we went back to the camp site to set up a big tent where my parents, my sister and I slept that night. My aunt and uncle set up their tent opposite our tent. Then it was time to get the firewood for the campsite so we could cook hotdogs. The highlight of the whole day was the hot gooey s’mores. Next morning we headed out to check the trot lines that we had baited the evening before with the big jumbo grasshoppers. We reached the trot line and lifted each hook one by one to no avail every time the grasshoppers were gone with no luck in sight. When reaching the last possible hook my uncle leaned over to find a very big blue catfish flouncing around. While attempting to put him in the boat I stood up and got too close to the edge of the boat and over I went. In the meantime my father and uncle were so engrossed in the catfish they didn’t realize I went over. I’m in the water yelling when they get the catfish in the boat to turn around to see me in the water doing the dog paddle that I had been taught to stay afloat. All ended well we had the catfish that weighed approximately forty-three pounds and I didn’t drown that day. By the way never got to taste the catfish we caught that day either. Looking back over the years at my work experience; being a jack of all trades and a master of none in the world of factory, retail, and healthcare. My factory career was a learning experience starting out in the workforce. All the while this experience in my life was a one that I truly enjoyed. Going to work for Rotocast Plastics was where we worked with plastic making everything from light globes to flotation devices. The most memorable time was when the lottery first entered the Texas seen. The company I worked for made the official Texas lotto stands that you saw in the stores around town. It was a busy time for the company that year with. lots of hours worked. All the while a time when I met a person whom I grew very close to. This person whom I grew close to drew my name at Christmas and made a very personal handmade gift. I still have that gift he made but the friendship has moved on. Not only did the friendship move on I moved on as well to a more lucrative job in life. My second job in life led me to the retail world. I took this job because it paid more and I loved working with the public. I went to work for Wal-Mart as an overnight stocker. We were responsible for setting up the new super center here in Lubbock, Texas. After getting the new Wal-Mart open I then took the department manager over the toy department at Christmas time. “What a nightmare that was.” However I would not change the experience I got from being in that position. I learned lots of informative knowledge that I could take away with me in the future. Again this job allowed me to grow in my life by giving me the ability to supervise as well as order for this department. Then finally we transitioned into the healthcare field where I truly found my calling. I worked at Silverstone Park as an activity director. I loved this time in my life and would not change the life experience that I had here. Also the true friendships that I made with the elderly that lived at this facility. They taught me a lot of life skill that I will forever be indebted to them for. I also became the dietary manager while working at this facility as well. It taught me how to order food, employee scheduling, and supervisory skill that I will always be able to use in life. I then moved over to Songbird Lodge for better pay and to return to the activity director position. I again built relationships with resident and coworkers whom I will forever be grateful for. As it states in article general jobs satisfaction from a developmental perspective “the matching between self-concepts and work situations is a never-completed project extending across the adult working career. People change their self-concepts to accommodate changing social conditions (e.g. in the workplace, community and family.) Jaspen and Hung-Ben, 2003. My greatest achievements in my life are twenty-five years with my soul mate, raising my two boys, and accomplishing my social work degree. The first on my list of accomplishments in my life began twenty-five years ago when I met my best friend. We met through mutual friends which was each of our best friends at the time. He is special to me because I believe god answered my prayers when he brought him into my life. I had come from a family where my father was an alcoholic. I always found myself outside praying under the stars when we had an episode with my father’s drinking. I always asked god to bring a man into my life that would be there for me, listen to me, and didn’t smoke or drink. My lord answered my prayer when he brought Lee into my life. We were married on October 18, 1986. We then began our family in the year of 1990 when we were the proud parents Joseph Welch. My life was full and complete at this time. Then in 1992 the lord thought we needed another addition to our family Bradley Wayne Welch. We have raised two wonderful boys whom I am very proud of. For some reason I still felt incomplete in my life so I began to talk to my husband about my feelings of wanting to go to college. That is when we made the decision that I would go back to school to follow my dreams. Thankfully my husband had been in the military and decided that he would transfer his GI Bill to assist me in my dream coming true. And as of today with light in sight at the end of the tunnel I can see success in the near future.

References

Witt, G.A., & Mossler, R.A. (2010) Adult Development. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/books/4
Jaspen, David A. & Hung-Bin Sheu, (2003) General Job Satisfaction from a Developmental Perspective: Exploring Choice – Job Matches At two Career Stages, The Career Development Quarterly, Vol. 52, pg. 2, para. 3.