Leticia Leyva Research Paper

many times I tried to pull out she was right there for me, along with a couple of others, and I really

She and I had an especially close bond. Shortly before my dad’s accident, both her parents had died. I was the one who supported her through a very difficult year. As a result, she always treated me differently from the other kids—almost like an adult.

hurt, allowed the cycle to continue. In hopes of escaping the violence I married and

was mainly working in medical offices. Then one day a close family friend Randy was giving months to

When she was around 5 years old her dad left them.threw the rest of her life she was raised by her single mom and her 2 older sisters. Then her family was everything to her and her family is everything to her now.Growing up she didn't have very much and she didn't want me and my sister to grow up like that. She has taught us that we can wish for a lot of things but we only need what we really need. Her family was everything then and is everything now.

She turned away from me. Letting her shoulders sulk as if I hurt her feelings. She’s playing games with me. I knew that she didn’t love me, at least not in the way that I loved her.

dream to continue my education and finish my Criminal Justice degree, but life kept happening and

was a reflection of hers; especially from the moment I got married. The pregnancy just made

She’s lived such a life of struggle. A single mom who in my opinion did the most amazing job raising me in the city of Los Angeles. I wouldn't of been this independent 28 year old with my dream job without her her support and her ability to foster my creativity. She’s the most amazing person and the most

Always with comfort, she would gently touch my head and say, “It might be hard right now but, it will get better with time.”

I felt broken. My movements were slow, the expression on my face was one full of grief, and I was less talkative than I normally am when I’m with her, making it all the more easier for her to tell something wasn’t right.

Eventually as with everything I got used to the idea of her being gone and it wasn’t as painful anymore. We talked on the phone and texted, discussed TV shows and movies, I even visited her for her 17th birthday. Then one day I got the news. She was Pregnant, this time for real. I was overflowing with emotions: Happiness for her finally getting what she had always wanted, Sorrow at the life she was throwing away by having a baby at 17, Guilt for not being there to keep her impulses under control which had been my job for so long, Anger for her moving away and coming home pregnant.

If I could have one do-over in life, I would use it to reconnect with my biological mom sooner than I did. She died when I was 11, the same weekend I saw her for the first time in several years; and we never had a chance to reconcile our relationship. My mom was addicted to prescription painkillers; by the time I was seven, she was unable to provide a home for us. She decided it was better for me to live with my grandparents so she could focus on overcoming her addictions. However, at the time I wasn’t old enough to realize what a gift she had given me; I was angry and felt she had pretty much abandoned me. After I moved to New Mexico with my grandparents, we had very little contact; and our relationship was strained. When I was eleven,

Having a child at a young wasn’t easy at all, she was born with asthma and we

I turned on my stomach as my head continued to pound and my stomach stirring. I started to pray. I apologized for the act I just recently did. I prayed for another chance and that I would turn myself