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Pre-natal and Birth
Bio-social: I was born 7 lbs, 6 oz. at 2:32 am. I have always been a night-owl.... I was born healthy and in the normal range. I was born naturally, and the labor took 15 hours.
Psychosocial: Both parents were present at birth and involved in parenting.
Cognitive: My mother and father both quit smoking during the pregnancy. This limited the amount of exposure to cigarette smoke. -
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The First Two Years
Biosocial: I was bottle-fed and had severe colic. I had genes to develop allergies later in life and not being breast-fed may have helped those allergies to develop.
Cognitive: My parents provided a low stress environment which allowed me to produce normal amounts of cortisol throughout my life. They also provided experience-expectant and experience-dependent function development by providing things to see, objects to manipulate and by providing love. -
First Words
Cognitive: I started talking around 10 months with my first words 'ma' and 'da'.
Psychosocial: Strong attachment to my father developed in the first two years. Also, and strong attachment developed to my mother as well. -
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The Play Years
Biosocial: I was lactose-intolerant before they knew what that was, so I didn't drink much milk. I also didn't eat a children's vitamin consistently. I was always a really small child and I grew up to be small for my family. My mom is 5'10" and my dad is 6".
Cognitive: I was an only child and I used preoperational intelligence in my play with toys. I was very good at keeping myself entertained.
Psychosocial: My father was an authoritative parent and he was the more consistent parent. -
Parent's Divorce
Psychosocial: My parents divorced when I was 4 years old. I don't know the exact date. There was a lot of fighting between them between ages 3-4. My mother moved out of the house into an apartment. My parents sat my down at the kitchen table and made me decide who to live with. I chose my mother, and we ended up moving from one place to another until I was 7. At least I stayed in the same school. -
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The School Years
Biosocial: I was in the normal range for height and weight. I must have had a high metabolism because I drank alot of pop and I watched alot of T.V. Physical activity occurred mainly at school.
Cognitive: I always did well in school and I was usually in the top 1% of my class, if not the top of the class.
Psychosocial: I lived with my father from age 7-12, so my life was alot more stable. I didn't see my mother during this time. She lived in Arizona and didn't visit or have me come visit -
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Adolescence
Biosocial: I developed puberty early, and I was isolated from on-time-maturing peers. I went through a loner stage where I wore baggy clothes to try to avoid being teased by the boys.
Cognitive: My thoughts of invincibility lead me to believe that I was protected from harmful choices. I was wrong, and I had to learn the hard way about relationship choices.
Psychosocial: There was some conflict with my father during my search for autonomy. He had good parental monitoring, but my mother didnt -
Junior High School
My mother moved back to Michigan and I went to live with her for a little while in Spring Lake, MI. She also brought my two new little brothers that I hadn't met before. They were 1 and 2 yrs old. Also, their father lived with us but my mother never married him. I stayed with her for two years. -
Grandville High School
I moved back in with my father when my mother decided to move to Arizona again. I stayed there for freshman year of high school. I ran track and got my first boyfriend. -
Paradise Valley High School
For my sophmore year of high school I moved to Phoenix, AZ to live with my mom and two brothers. Their dad had left. I loved Arizona. I played basketball and had my second boyfriend. -
First job, Wendy's!
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Grandville High School, again...
I moved back to Michigan. My dad got remarried and had a daughter. She has a rare genetic disorder. Her first couple of years were very trying on the family. I tried to help out as much as I could. I decided to try soccer, and it has been my sport ever since. -
Graduated from High School
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Adrian College
I went to college in Adrian, MI. My B.A. was in psychology. My last semester there I started dating my first husband. He proposed in 2000. -
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Emerging Adulthood
Biosocial: I had great health. I played soccer all four years of college.
Cognitive: In college I had many opportunities to develop cognitive flexibility.
Psychosocial: Several friends that I met at college are still close friends today. I had both men and women as friends, but the women have stayed my closest friends because of the level of friendship. -
Graduated from Undergrad
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University of Detroit Mercy
I went to the University of Detroit Mercy for my M.A. in Clinical Psychology. -
Graduated from Grad School
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Real Adulthood
Biosocial: It is harder to run and play soccer than it used to be. I have also noticed a lot of wrinkles.
Cognitive: I have a high level of emotional intelligence that helps me be resilient and bounce back after major setbacks.
Psychosocial: I got married and had my daughter when I was 26. I got divorced in 2005. I got remarried in 2009. -
Cora (daughter) is born
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Married Joe, Cora's father
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Divorced Cora's father
We had to go through a waiting period because we had a child together, so it took a year. However, it was a very amicable divorce with joint physical and legal custody. -
Married my best friend
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Husband's new career
My husband excepted a position with the Border Patrol and he will be stationed in Texas. We will be moving, but I will be commuting back and forth for school on a weekly basis. I must be nuts! -
Start PA school
I start PA school at the University of Detroit Mercy in the fall. I am nervous, but excited. This is the career that I have wanted to have for a while. I am also joining the National Guard and will be a PA for them. -
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Predicted Adulthood
Biosocial: I imagine that I will be active until well into my later years. I hope to continue exercising and playing soccer. My decisions now about maintaining an active lifestyle will most likely help me to continue that lifestyle for many years.
Cognitive: I predict that I will continue to keep learning and my intelligence will continue to grow. I have just started learning my third language, and I would like to learn a couple more.
Psychosocial: I will not experience a midlife crisis. -
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Commuting from Texas to Detroit for school on a weekly basis
I will have to fly back and forth from Texas to Detroit to be able to go to PA school and be there for my family. It will be a rough 3 years. -
Predicted Graduation from PA school
I will graduate PA school at the end of my clinical rotations. I hope that my husband will have transferred to a post in Detroit by then and I could job search in the Detroit area. I want to make it easiest for joint custody with my ex-husband. -
First Child with Husband
My husband and I wanted to wait to have children, other than Cora, until his career settled down and I am out of school. The plan is that I will be able to stay home with the children and work 2-3 days a week part-time as a PA. -
Second child with husband
We will have to have the children pretty quick because I am getting older... Hopefully we won't have to resort to fertility treatments. -
Cora will graduate from High School
My first daughter will graduate from high school and begin her adult life. I don't know if she will continue on to college, but of course I will encourage her to do so. -
Partial Retirement
I don't really think that I will fully retire. I will want to continue to help people for the rest of my life. Helping others is what I strive to do. My husband has mandatory retirement in 20 years. -
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Traveling and Mission work
My husband and I plan to travel and to provide support for missionaries around the world when we retire. I would love to also provide medical missions help also. -
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Late Adulthood cont.
Psychosocial: I would have to cope with the changes of life by utilizing selective optimization. I would seek to maintain my language abilities through travel and conersation instead of trying to learn complete new languages. By then I hope to be fluent in English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, and Hungarian. -
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Late Adulthood
Biosocial: I plan on continuing to be active, hopefully playing soccer. If that is too much, then another sport like table tennis or golfing. I hope that my husband and I will continue to plan for this time of life. If either of us has failing health, I hope that our plans will provide for this time so that we don't have to rely on our children.
Cognitive: I will continue to learn new things as I get older. I especially want to learn several languages. Dementia does run in our family. -
My Death
I think it would be very poetic to die on my birthday. By then I may have outlived my husband, however, we may go at the same time because he is four years younger than I am. I will have had a very full and wonderful life. I will be ready for the next part. I predict the year of my death based on the life expectancy calculator.
