My parents have instilled in me that working hard and going to college are two of the most important goals I should have for myself at this time of my life, because neither of them was able to finish college. My mother raised me with her husband, my stepfather who never had a healthy, loving and caring relationship for my brother and I to witness as young children. There were constant arguments and fights for many years until the level of extremity of these incidents rapidly increased. My stepfather was very abusive and he seemed ruthless when he appeared to be trying to ruin our lives. Just a few years ago, my stepfather explained to me that he no longer wanted me to be his daughter and that he would not be willing to take care of me anymore. Since my mom was a housewife with no job or money, we basically depended on him for survival. I took it upon myself at age 14 to find a job and make a little extra money for my family to be able to move away from my stepdad. As naïve as it may sound for a 14-year old girl in her freshman year of high school to be trying to help her mother and younger brother break away from such a serious situation, I managed to work enough to be able to pay for small things like new clothes here and there, and groceries every month. Things were going a lot better for us until my mom and step dad finally decided they wanted a divorce and put it into action. When the divorce was playing out, the household was the worst that it had ever been. I remember countless nights of my mother crying herself to sleep because my brother and I didn’t have a healthy relationship with my stepdad. It got to the point where he would alienate us all and live his life within the house as if we didn’t exist. I was so hurt by this situation because this is the man who raised me, the man who had been there for me when my real father wasn’t. How could he betray us so easily; after all, someone once said that families aren’t