Autobiography

Danielle’s Autobiography:
I was born the middle child. I have an older sister and a younger brother. My dad was married and divorced before he met my mom and had three kids, two girls and one boy. They are my half brothers and sisters. They were all grown up when I was born so they where more like aunts and uncles, not brother and sisters. Growing up we were not poor but we weren’t rich either. My dad went to work and my mom did daycare from our home.
My dad’s role was the decision maker and the provider of the family. My mom was the one who took care of us and did the cooking and cleaning. My dad was more of the one who played monsters with us and my mom was the one who made sure our teeth were brushed and that we went to bed on time. My parents tried not to argue in front of us so if they ever did I usually came out and used words that they would on my brother, sister and I. I would say, “Now kids do I have to separate you?” My mom and dad called me the “peace maker” of the family because I didn’t like to argue and if people did I was the one who tried to fix it.
As we grew up my parents told us we had to go to school every day, however if we were sick they didn’t think twice to send us to school, but if we were healthy there was not a choice; I had to be at school. When I received good grades I didn’t receive any rewards, they would make comments like good job we are proud of you. I was always jealous of my friends who received money for every A they got on their report card. When I was a child, usually the punishment was to sit in time out for one minute for every year you were. They also did not believe in spanking. As I got older my parents didn’t really have punishment besides going to your room. There were only a few times in my life where I had to go to bed early or couldn’t watch TV. They did have strict rules, bed times and curfews. I always went by the rules so I don’t know what would have happened if I decided not to.
Around late elementary school sports became a big factor in our lives, there was always some sort of game going on all year between my brother, sister and I. When I was ten I joined a competitive soccer team, from that moment on I played soccer year around for 10 years. What I remember about soccer is how my dad never missed games and my mom would watch rain or shine under the umbrella.
I went to an elementary school that was a block away from my house. I remember being proud when I was old enough to walk my brother and me to school by ourselves. My middle school was only a few more blocks away, I walked there as well. My high school was probably a mile away. I spent much of my childhood in one house where my school‘s were just done the road. A majority of my community was white however it was never only white. As I grew up skin color was never an issue with me, I never thought people were any different from me. I talked to whoever sat by me. In middle school I had a diverse range of friends but never realized it until I was much older. My first boyfriend was black and I loved to play soccer with two of my Hispanic friends.
In high school I started seeing some imaginary lines that I never saw before. The Hispanics always sat by each other and ate lunch together. There were only a few black students even though they hung out with everyone most of the time they hung out with another black person. Even though I started to see the imaginary line I didn’t always abide by them. I still thought of everyone being equal however I never once put myself in their shoes so I have no idea if they thought they were equal.
When I reached college I played soccer for two years at a community college. After soccer was over I had a hard choice to continue to play soccer or not. I decided to stop playing competitively and focused on my school. I applied for the Physical Therapy Assistance program and took a few months off school to work full time. I found out I got an alternate position for the program and that was the first time in my life that I didn’t know what I was going to do for the next year. Nathan, my husband asked me the question what I wanted to do with my life. That is when I realized I wanted to teach. I started going to Western Oregon and for 2 years I pretty much had the same people in all of my classes. I made a lot of good friends. My friends were once again very diverse coming from different backgrounds. One of my friends father is from Africa and I love to hear the stories that he tells me. I just graduated from Western a few weeks before the MAT program at Willamette started. I am excited for my future of being a teacher.