Brianna Hale
FHS 1500-042
Final Project
I was born September thirteenth nineteen eighty-eight to Paul and Laurie Gustin at Pioneer
Valley Hospital in West Valley, UT. We all moved to South Jordan, UT when I was just a week old. My
parents still live in that same white house on the corner. I am the oldest of three children. I have a
sister that is three years younger than me and a brother who is twelve years younger than me. My
sister is my absolute best friend and I was lucky to have someone so close in age when I was a child even
though we fought to no end as kids.
I grew up in a loving family with parents who I would say have the perfect marriage. They have
been married for twenty-seven solid years. Sure they have their problems but they’ve always made it
through. My family is LDS (from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Days Saints) and I was raised as
such. I started dancing at the young age of four. I also took piano lessons as a child and promptly quit
when the opportunity arose to learn to play the violin. Music had always been an important thing to my
mother so she had us all involved in some sort of musical something or other. I also was involved in
acting, singing and photography as well as a very good student. I was literally a “Jack of all trades,
master of none.” I did everything but wasn’t especially good at any one thing.
M parents both worked full time and/or went to school full time when I was a child. So they
relied heavily on day cares and babysitters. I remember going to a day care in my neighborhood when I
was about two. I don’t remember much from it. I do, however, remember playing with a “My Little
Pony” ice cream parlor toy, learning to peel carrots, and singing songs in a program for our parents. The
lady that owned the day care moved so my mom was forced to find a new day care for me and my baby
sister. My mom was looking for good programs but I based my decision on toys and entertainment. I
remember going to a facility where there was a big screen television that kids were sitting way too close
to and the volume was up way too loud. I remember not wanting to go there. I also remember a day
care with a castle toy, the kind you can climb on and has a slide on one side. I really liked that and
ended up there. It was called KinderCare. We went on field trips, sang songs, played with toys and I
actually learned to read in the one and half years I attended there. I think I developed a lot faster
intellectually by being in day care. Our text says that generally day care does help with cognitive
development. The social effects are unknown however I think I developed better socially because I was
used to being around other children and other adults. I still had a good relationship with my mother and
father. I know my mom wishes she wouldn’t have had to work and could have stayed home with me.
I’ve never felt like she had missed anything or that she didn’t know me or vice versa. She spent all her
extra time with me and my siblings. Overall I think my day care experience was beneficial for my
development.
After day care I started at a private school, Challenger. Public school wouldn’t put me in
kindergarten at age four but Challenger took me. I learned a lot there I was at a fourth grade level in
just about everything by the time I left. My parents put me in public school the next year and I took a
skip a grade test so I didn’t have to repeat kindergarten again. I tested to skip to fourth grade but my
parents wanted me in first grade to be with other students closer to my own age. My mom has always
said that my being the youngest in my grade as made me easily influenced by others, almost to the point
where people take advantage of me. I’m not sure how much of that is actually true.
When I started dance, I had class one night a week for a couple hours. As I started getting
better and auditioning for competing companies, my dance schedule was more intensive and by the
time I was in middle school, I was dancing at least an hour every weeknight and most Saturdays. So
making friends from school was hard because I couldn’t spend time with them outside of school. I was
however very good friends with the girls I danced with. We were all on the same team. We spent time
with each other in dance classes as well as in between numbers at competitions and that’s just the
dancing aspect of our friendship. We would have sleep overs and hang out during our free time. It was
good team building experience. When you are a part of any type of team it’s good to be friends with
your teammates and to also be able to trust them. So these are the friends I shared a common interest
with and with whom I spent most of my time.
I remember when I was a sophomore in high school I had a boyfriend. His name was Kyle.
While we were dating my world pretty much revolved around him. I wasn’t old enough (according to
my parents who said the appropriate age would be sixteen) to go on actual dates. So we mostly spent
time hanging out at each others’ house and secretly meeting each other. He was my first kiss. I “loved”
him at the time. Only when I look back now after feeling true love for the man I’m married to can I tell
that was not real love. After being together for about six months, he dumped me because he was going
to a summer camp and didn’t want to be “tied down” in case he met someone. I was heartbroken. I
remember getting so depressed that I faked being sick so I didn’t have to go to dance class and one day I
spent almost all day doing my hair and nails trying to make myself feel pretty. I remember talking to a
friend of mine how I wanted to kill myself because life without Kyle wasn’t worth living. It sounds
ridiculous now but at the time it felt so real and awful. Eventually a new boyfriend came along and
these feelings were forgotten. This happens to a lot of teens according to our text book. Loss of a
boyfriend or girlfriend can lead to depression because of those feelings of not being wanted or good
enough. That was the first time I ever fought depression. Unfortunately it wouldn’t be the last. I was
diagnosed with clinical depression several years later and I tend to have bigger bouts with depression in
the summer months which is highly abnormal.
I also fought a lot with my parents as a teenager. I remember getting into a fight that usually
ended in tears with my parents almost every night of my sophomore and a good portion of my junior
year of high school. I didn’t necessarily do anything wrong. I always made curfew. I wasn’t doing drugs
or drinking alcohol. I didn’t even have friends that my parents disapproved of. It was just petty things.
Like I need to do more around the house and my mother wasn’t going to buy me anymore black clothing
because she didn’t like this whole gothic phase I was going through. It was petty bickering as the book
talks about. Things always seemed to escalate past that point to tears when my dad was involved. A
therapist once told me it has to do with birth order theory. My dad and I are both first born so we tend
to be more stubborn and have the attitude of “I’m right because I did it first.” That could definitely be
the cause. Interestingly enough, when I don’t live under the same roof as my dad we get along
extremely well.
After living in the same house for my entire life, I couldn’t wait to get out. I moved down to
Cedar City to go to Southern Utah University where I got a scholarship for musical theatre. While down
there, I got my first job working at Wal-Mart. It was great being on my own. I could do whatever I
wanted and didn’t have my parents on my back all the time. I stopped going to church because I didn’t
like it and had only been going because my parents made me (foreclosure). I met lots of new friends
and started drinking with them mostly to fit in. I suppose this could be considered peer pressure. I still
drew the line at no drugs. I felt like there should still be a line that shouldn’t be crossed. Of course I
kept all this from my parents. I still wanted their love but I wanted time to explore and “find myself.”
After a year at Southern Utah University, I moved back home. I got into a little too much trouble
with friends while down there. IT was hard moving back home. At first my parents were willing to let
me have my freedom. But after a few times staying out “way too late” which is what I was used to, they
put a curfew in place. Here I was a legal adult and I had a curfew. This just pissed me off and I went into
teenager mode once again and I never came home on time. Of course this made things rough on my life
at home which is why I tried to be home as little as possible.
Now I’ve been living on my own for years and after years of partying (drinking), I’ve calmed
down. I don’t drink anymore; I really don’t see the point. I think it was just fun when it was forbidden
and illegal, but now that I’m “of age,” it’s just not fun. I met the man of my dreams at a new job and we
got married six months after we met. Of course I had to break up with the boyfriend I had when I met
him. I’ve started getting back into church, not because my parents want me to, but because I feel like it
would better my life. I went back to school and am more serious about it this time; before I would
rather party it up than go to class so my grades suffered. After years of searching for my place in this
life, I feel that it is in helping others. I work as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and I love helping
people. My back can’t really take the physical labor anymore so I’ve decided to get my Bachelor’s of
science in Nursing. Plus there’s more money in being a registered nurse anyway. I just need to get into
a program and I’ll have probably about six semesters to go.
I hope than one day in the future I’ll have kids of my own. I hope I can be just as good of parents
as mine were. I was a horrible child to deal with at times but I did love them and they did well by me. I
hope my marriage can be as good as theirs as well. They have lasted for twenty-seven years now and
are still going strong. I have been afraid of marriage because I don’t want to get divorced. Marriage is a
lot of work, I didn’t understand how much until I actually got married. I want happiness out of life.
What more can a person want?