Stories

Misty's Story

"I was pretty young, around five years or so, when I began to realize how young my mother was. Looking through the eyes of a child, it didn't really matter. We never really had much money, but my mom and I always seemed to make it somehow. I remember the times when she worked two jobs so I could have everything I needed, stayed up late to make me a cool Halloween costume, or how she woke up every morning at five o' clock just to drive me to swim practice. I am just beginning to realize, however, that perhaps the greatest thing my mom ever did for me was giving me the chance to live. 

"The more I learn about my mother's past, the more I am completely amazed at my mother's decision not to just abort me . My mom, a good student, left her high school two years early to attend a nearby university on a cheerleading scholarship. Shortly after entering school, she starting dating my father, who was already a junior at the school. About a year later, at eighteen years old, my mom found out she was pregnant, and it really frightened her, from what she tells me. Unfortunately, my father didn't lend her much support. He was young and didn't want to be a husband or a parent at the time. He later regretted that decision and has become a big part of my life. 

"Without his support, however, my mom was left with no money and no one to turn to. She was raised in a foster home and had only met her own mother a couple of times. Yet, despite such grim circumstances, she gave birth to me later that spring, about six weeks early. In light of the poor situation my mother was in, I was immediately placed in a foster home myself with an apparently very nice family. With a lot of hard work, determination, and the loving support of the family taking care of me, I was returned to my mother less than three months later. Both of my parents have since married and begun families of their own, and I am an integral part of both. I will be forever grateful to my mother and those who helped her through her crisis pregnancy for their loving sacrifices and their reluctance to sacrifice me."