1. Life Span Development Karen Martinez

2. I was born February 11, 1983 in University of Utah hospital. I was the first born girl in my family. My life had started and it so happen to be here in Utah where I have lived for 28 years. I grew up in a very weird family. My mom is American and my step-father is from Guatemala. I grew up around a lot of Hispanic people which like you could have guessed impacted my life very much. I never met my really dad until just recently which has been so far the weirdest thing that has happened to me. I grew up mostly in West Valley and Kearns. I went to valley Jr. High and Granger high. Unfortunately I did not graduate.

3. I grew up in a very high Hispanic community and being raised by someone who is Spanish was kind of hard for me because of the culture differences that was involved. I would have to say growing up around a lot of Spanish people was very hard considering the fact that I was a 100% American. My mom married my step-dad when I was 2 and even though in my heart he was my dad it was hard for other Hispanics to accept us. I remember when I was in school and my dad would come and pick me up the some of the “American” kids would stare and the Hispanic kids looked at me funny. Some of my friends didn't’ want to play with me, it was kind of sad. But now that I am older things have changed a bit I am very fluent in Spanish my kids are half Mexican and I am accepted in both communities.

4. Growing up I was never really active in my community or church it was hard for some people to accept the life style my mom was living. Now a day’s biracial relationships are very common but back then not so much. So because of that I never did and group things in church or around my block I kept to my self. Growing up like that has made it hard for me to participate in activities still. When ever I go to church I feel like people are staring and even though I know they are not it’s still in the back of my mind. When I go to the store and I talk to my kids in Spanish people do stare, I live in West Jordan and in the area I live in there are not a lot of Spanish people, and vise versa when I go to a Mexican store and I speak Spanish they stare. Things that happen to us when we are child tend to affect us in our adult lives. For example all the immigration issues that are being discussed in this world bug me. For one my husband was deported because of some of the new laws. Second my kids have been told things in school that scare them and stuff that inappropriate. Third people are always scared of what they don’t understand and even though immigrants are wrong in some ways growing up around them I understand what there reason is and being to Mexico my self I have a different concept on immigrants. To be perfectly honest I would have done the same thing if it were my and my child.

5. Before I became of age I got this at the time brilliant idea in my head that I wanted to get married. So I talked my mom into signing the papers so that I could. It was the worst thing I had ever done in my life. Three months later I was Prego with my first child Dominick and I had done gone and dropped out of school by this point. I was later divorced and left raising a child by my self. Later on my situation went from bad to worst because of some poor choices I became pregnant again with my middle child Jonathon. Well 2 months after I had him his dad split and went back to Mexico because he wanted to marry a Mexican girl not a “white” girl. But at the end of the tunnel is light and I found Ricardo my husband now and we had my last child Noah and things have been great ever since. I used to say I would never get married again but Ricardo changed my mind and I am loving every minute of it.

6. Now in life I am at a cross road. My husband is in Mexico waiting for immigration to pull there heads out the behind and let him come home. My children are suffering more than any child should have to they miss my husband and due to him being gone I have taken on way to much crap I can not handle. I currently go to school work 2 jobs and am a full time mother. Even thought I work that does not keeping me from being a fulltime mother believe me. I manage my time the best as possible but hey lets be honest you can mange your time to a T but someone else can mess up your routine like an accident on the way to work or a sick child and you have to miss work. So this is were my life is at this very moment in time.

7. Where is my life going? I hope all the way up. My planes are to bring my husband back start my family again and get my nursing degree. I have always wanted to be a nurse and I have been working in the medical field for 6 years now why not go to the top and get a better job doing what I love. In my far future I want to open up a medical home in Mexico in hopes to help there elderly people get the right care that is in need and unavailable by family members. I am also hoping that life calms down a bit so that me and my kids and husband can get life back on track. I want everything to fall in place and run smoother with the occasional bumps. This is a little about me hope you enjoyed read it. I am a wonderful person in my eyes. And like I said before things in are lives affect the way we function sometimes permanently or sometimes a short bit. But on thing I want to say is that never judge a book by it’s cover people are different and unless we get to know them who are we to judge or tease. When life gives you lemonades make lemonade.

8. The End