I don't know how personal I should be in this essay however I want you to genuinely know the writer of this and understand where my heart and my head is as I write to you I have started crowd funding just so I could raise the money to send you the entry fee that's how extremely excited for this opportunity and dedicated to this project.
I would simply like to bring my family back together.
I'm 37 single mother of a 16 year old boy, I've had a boyfriend for the last 8 years and he's chronically Ill with a rare disease called retroperitoneal fibrosis. Im legally his caretaker. He is a good hard working man! For Seven years we have been renting a brownstone apartment on capital Avenue and every year our neighbors drive by with compliments on how beautiful he decorates the makeshift rooftop Patio we created with flowers and patio furniture. He's truly a gem always offering me beauty and comfort wherever I go from and indoors to outside my house feels like a palace. I love him very much he is an amazing man There is no way I'd ever be able to own the house that I live in at this moment we've been renting for seven years and the owners don't have a lease with option to buy out with this space and I've always wanted to own my own home.
My story gets extremely personal and as I mentioned earlier I'm not sure exactly how personal I should get it however I don't believe you'll get to know the person without understanding the personal backstory so here goes.
I used to be a really weak person I would never tell people what I truly felt what I wanted I would just assume they were right and will just follow orders and do what I was told which led me to having a really poor relationship with my mother and did not decide to date seriously for very long time because I had a mistrust with men mostly due to the father of my child who kidnapped my son at 11 months old. He was the first man I've ever trusted and he totally betrayed me for 12 years. Not only did I spend over 12 years searching for them I also spent every resource I had relocating and reinventing myself to eventually become a good mother when I did find him because I knew I would. I entered programs for family assistance and enrolled in adult education. I finished high school I live with my mother and other family members as I attended college got my 1st apartment and started building my credit. I got good jobs tried to save money and started a business and once I did I got on social media and that's where my son found me. MySpace saved my ass! I studied humanities and social science with hospitality that landed me a job at Ruth's Chris where I worked 3 years before applying to the Marriott. I sought a full time position in hospitality but landed 2 part time positions in customer service. There I learned of the expansion plans and building of Adrian's Landing. There I was determined to make myself a name in Hartford. I've had my heart set on entrepreneurship my whole life. Most girls were conditioned in that way, when we're a baby were given a baby doll, not much younger than we are however we are expected to assume responsibility as mama of baby. I created my first business with my dolls and teddy Bears. By age 7 I was enterprising enough to ask for a job. I worked as an shrimp head remover for $.25 a lb then was promoted to an oyster shucker 2 days a week 4:30-7:30 made about $6.00 a day. At age 10, I started a business whole selling carnival toys to fairs and traveling carnivals. At 12 I was on my way to the post office to get a book of stamps when I saw an elderly couple planting sod and scraping paint off of the side of an old Victorian house I asked them if they needed help immediately hired me we tended all of the grounds. Intricately we restored the outside and inside of all 23 bedrooms of this historic mansion to a bed and breakfast inn. I was later hired as a housekeeper and maître d' at the inn. http://www.coombshouseinn.com/
When you think about it I guess that's the American dream for everyone to own a piece of property or land that you can call your own raise your family which leads to success a comfortable quality of life. Doesn't matter your race or ethnicity or cultural background. My cultural roots started in a small town called Apalachicola Florida there with about 3000 people in total our family lived in a one room house with the kitchen added on an outhouse eventually restored to a bathroom and a living quarter thats it! We are all ethnically creole by definition. But we are mixed raced Americans with lineage from France, Africa, & Native America. There were 13 of us they're living in that house that we did feel wonderful because it was the only thing we owned. My grandmother was born in that house and she made sure to proudly boast to us that her mother and father purchased it for $1. Legally something happened not to my understanding when my grandmother passed away and we realize they were unpaid taxes on the house we eventually lost the house and because credit its is tough when you are uneducated or low income we were back to renting apartments again. The family was suddenly split apart my uncles and my aunts took their children moved to different areas a lot of my family moved to upstate New York and to New York City. Unfortunately a lot of the cities and towns offered poor housing options and only affordable project living stack apartments and very small or infested spaces and it added a lot of stress and trauma to everyone not only the children that were split away from their cousins and growing up together as a family also to the adults who had to find new jobs a career options to raise their family. Everyone's world was turned upside down. We all had to make new friends and so many people noticed the displacement and took advantage. I believe a lot of the bigger cities were overwhelming to the Southern comfort lifestyle a lot of the older relative that were stuck in their ways of living and found themselves completely isolated. Small towns offer a lot more instant trust and a neighborly camaraderie we weren't able to receive elsewhere. We have a lot of talented people in my family. Talent attracts a different source of people whereas we were used to having neighbors and friends that were often in the church had small businesses or community obligations we were able to fit in mostly in that community because we attended church services and was very much involved in our community as well working with kids or the elderly. A family of different writers musicians athletes artists playwrights actors singers dancers motivational speakers clergyman businessmen and women so much talent had to be wasted because we ended up living in towns where they would get jobs or change career options all together like mechanics working at factories working in construction or working in labor-intensive fields that were only available seasonally so we often moved to where the work was. The paper mills of Port St Joe, the construction site bridges of Panama City, the uprise of new construction in Atlanta Ga. The nursing and home health care boom of Albany Ny I'm the only one who decided to Pursue my dream and reside in Hartford Connecticut, and dance. Now being here for the last 12 years I've been a proud resident. I come from a small town and lived in large cities so Hartford is perfect for me it's everything that I've ever wanted in a home I could raise my children and still become very successful in my business I can make amazing friends and have an amazing entertaining life style that allows me to be able to explore many of Hartford's arts music and historical gems that I've been able to share with my family when they do visit. Cultural education hasn't always been an option unfortunately places that are more fordable have very little cultural significance to the community Since I've lived here I've done nothing but tell all my friends and family from around the world how amazing this place really is even to where an old classmate decided to move here and give success a try here. I tell them how big cities like New York and Boston are just a scenic beautiful 2.5 hour drive away public transportation is booming and there's really no excuse to enjoy the outdoor living enjoying all four seasons and celebrating every national American holiday in style. I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else in America. I love watching this beautiful city grow up around me as it is renovated and reinvented by many of its charitable organization that get together and organize opportunities in the city for expansion. I really do feel like one of the first American pioneers settling to a new land that offer so much. I'm really sure my Native American ancestors would be proud so will my French and African-American ancestors would be as well because the dream is real. Hartford really does have it all.
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