Essay Sample about Family of 16 - Overcoming Adversity Profile

The challenges you face, ought to never characterize you, what characterizes you is your capacity to handle the difficulty you're confronted with. The challenges you face will come in many different ways, and you must be ready to face them. Once you face adversity in life, you will arm yourself with different essential instruments and methods to overcome them. In this profile, we will discuss some of the challenges, my mom, Anne Trogstad, has had to overcome to be where she is today. I hope to help influence myself and others, from these experiences and learn how to deal with them. 

It all starts with growing up with 15 other brothers and sisters. Having this many siblings had a lot of positives and negatives. From the time Anne was two, she said, “I felt like I was having a new sibling every year until I graduated”. The biggest positive is, there is always someone to talk to, laugh with and also cry with when you need it the most. The biggest negative is, their family never had a lot of money growing up. Due to them not having a lot of money they were having to move a lot because they were getting kicked out from place to place and also never had money to go out to family outings. Another problem that came from not having a lot of money was not having a lot of food for the whole family and sometimes couldn't afford the essential foods. When I asked Anne, what was the clothing situation like? She commented, “I hated having to wear the same piece of clothing everyone in my family has worn”. When asked, what was your favorite childhood memory? She replied, “having to pack two vans full of my brothers and sisters, to go anywhere”. During these times of being so close together in a van that when she got to know more about her other brothers and sisters, she didn't talk very much. They were a very Christian family, so she remembers waking up every Sunday morning.

Anne’s mom (Margaret), worked at a restaurant most of her life until she suffered an injury to her vertebrate, which made it hard for her to move well. Which then led to her getting laid off from job to job and eventually wasn't physically able to work. Anne’s dad (Donald) served in the air force, where he was a crew chief aircraft mechanic, working on B29 and B47 Bombers. He later worked in Wabasha county, where they lived, as a police officer. He later retired and opened up an upholstery business. When I asked Anne, who had the greatest influence on you as a child? She commented, “my dad”. Her dad was the first one to congratulate her when she graduated from high school and her being one of the sixteen to graduate from high school. You could see the peer enjoyment in his eyes that day. Her dad was also known for always having a smile on his face and carrying candy with him to give to people. Her dad was diagnosed with stage A stomach cancer. After 5 years of fighting stomach cancer, he passed away in March of 2016. 

Being a part of a massive extened family doesn't make things easy, whether it be financial issues or other family problems. Adversity is simply a word. The truth of it is misfortune in God's way of pushing us towards our most noteworthy potential. Overcoming adversity implies never giving up no matter what. I believe my mom overcame adversity and succeeded with what was given to her.