To start with, I’m a 57-year-old woman and I live in Montclair, NJ with my husband of 20 years, my almost 10-year-old daughter, 1 cat, and 5 fish. I am the youngest of 3 siblings, and we lived with our parents in Verona, NJ. My childhood was like most kids who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s until I developed Type I Diabetes at the age of 8 ½. I then struggled with this disease for the next 46 years.
Getting depression at the age of 16 greatly affected my life, and I still suffer with this illness, combined with anxiety, today. As a result of this disease, I missed many events of my latter childhood and young adulthood including my prom, high school graduation, and going away to college.
Despite my physical and mental illnesses, I was able to accomplish certain milestones of adulthood, although later than most of my peers. For example, I graduated college with a major in Spanish and a minor in French. I studied extensively to become a speech/language pathologist, until dropping out of the program. I then earned my Teacher of the Handicapped certification and Master of Arts in Teaching. I subsequently have worked mostly in schools, either as a paraprofessional or teacher.
In terms of my personal life, I met my husband while taking a break from graduate school and working at a computer training company where he also worked. He’s a wonderful man and I’m very fortunate to be married to him. After about 11 years of marriage we finally adopted our daughter who will be 10 soon. Our daughter inspired us to start a band in which we write and perform children’s music. The band has been an ongoing project of ours for the past 8 years.
This brief synopsis gives you a rough idea of my life up to now. I will write more on the events in my life in my blog posts.
Please feel free to comment on what you’ve read. Have you had any similar experiences in your life?
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