Morgan Meza

Person Paper-Section #1

My mother was 27 and my dad was about 25 when they decided they wanted
to start having kids. Unfortunately, they had a hard time doing so, after a year or
two they started taking infertility medication. 3 years later after unsuccessful
attempts my mom finally became pregnant with me. During this time my parents
were both working full time. My mom worked at American Express and my dad
worked at Phillips 66. Both were middle class living in West Valley, Utah. Both were
pretty healthy with no serious health issues. Luckily, throughout pregnancy there
were no complications during prenatal development. My mom had pretty normal
pregnancy as far as morning sickness and cravings. She also carried me high and in
her back area so she didnt visibly show me for a few months.
By week 37 my moms blood pressure became too high and she had to be on
bed rest until I was born. Once my birthday came my mom was in labor with me for
about 6 hours, during which the doctor had noticed my heart rate was rapidly
accelerating at an abnormal rate. Because of that I needed to come out as soon as
possible. My mother and her OB/GYN were planning on bringing me into the world
vaginally but that didnt end up being the case. Come to find out my mothers
cervix wasnt shaped like it normally should be so it was then determined that my
mom would have a cesarean. My parents had originally set their minds on the name
Haley but they said once they saw me and held me in their arms that name wasnt
quite right. A while later they had come up with the name Morgan after much

deliberation and knew that was the one. I was the first born out of 3 girls. The
middle child was born 7 years later and the youngest two years after that.
The first 4 years of my life I had quite a few health issues including having
tubes put in my ears two separate times due to frequent and painful ear infections,
had my adenoids taken out, and got a bad case of chickenpox. Other than those
difficult periods I was a pretty happy baby, didnt have any developmental issues.
Hit all the necessary stages at the right times. However, I did have quite an
attachment to my binky from age 1-3. I also had a bit of separation anxiety and
didnt like other people besides my parents. But luckily, I had grown out of that once
my parents put me in pre-school at a place called Miss Swendys were my parents
would drop me off while they worked. But it turned out to be really great for me
because I had the opportunity to develop my social skills, make friends, become
more independent, and survive away from my mom.
Once I was old enough to begin elementary school I did great. I loved learning
and did well. But I would get in trouble a lot. Not for bad behavior per se, but for
being too talkative. Being social was a skill I acquired and thrived on. I loved people,
talking and making new friends. It was disruptive at times, but I still excelled by
getting good grades and somehow my teachers still loved me. From age 5-10 I
absolutely loved playing outside, making up games, riding my bike. I also remember
that during this time I had a very diverse group of friends. During this time, I didnt
have any Caucasian friends like myself, they were either black/hispanic. From a very
young age I never knew or cared for the difference, they were just kids like me and
since then I still feel the same way. Another reason was probably because we lived
in Midvale, Utah and during that time I was the minority in that elementary school. I
had a health issues from age 9-12. The first was night seizures, I would have

seizures while I was asleep for a few months when I was eight years old. I had a few
sleep tests done as well as a CT scan, they couldnt find anything major wrong with
me. My parents were just told it was a phase and that I would grow out of it, which
thankfully I did. That was a scary time for them. I also had issues with peeing the
bed for a few years, with help of some differently devices and trial and error I grew
out of that too as embarrassing and hard as that was.

Then came the dreaded middle school years. Looking back, I cringe thinking
about those times. The reason being was because there were so many mental,
emotional and physical changes occurring. Plus, I was trying to figure myself out
and where I could fit in in school; like most adolescents during that time. Age 12 I
started my menstrual period, it was one day during recess in 6th grade Ill never
forget it I called my mom crying in fear of what was happening to me. This was
when my body started to change dramatically. The few years that followed I became
overweight, depressed, and had very low self-esteem. I remember I was exhausted
after school, not necessarily because of the homework that was given but me
constantly trying to be the person I thought I should be. Being like the prettiest,
most popular, and skinny girls in my grade. After school most days I would look
forward to being alone with my bag of chips in front of a TV where no one could
judge me but then I would quickly hate myself for it afterwards. Those years were
also hard because of the estranged relationship I had with my mom. Due to stress,
my moms own depression and bipolar disorder, and my attitude we never got
along. I remember getting into physically and verbal fights with her. That led me to
hate myself even more and dread going to school. Yet while going through all of this

I tried so hard to maintain my honor roll status for 7th and 8th grade, then school
didnt become as important as popularity and the social aspect of life.
I was about age 16 when I started high school, this was the year my body
started changing again, due to me still growing plus I had made some dramatic
changes to my diet and exercise. I was on a dance team also, that helped me heal
in many ways. I was beginning to figure out how to take care of myself and maintain
a healthy me. However, I still suffered from depression and became obsessed with
the way I looked. I would beg my mom to let me stay home and sometimes I even
faked sick so that I wouldnt have to go to school if I felt like I didnt look good
enough or felt fat. I started to rebel a lot and became defiant by lying and going to
meet friends I wasnt supposed to. I never got into drugs or drank or anything like
that because I was still afraid of disappointing my parents. I didnt ever have a
desire to be a bad kid but new experiences and people intrigued me. If someone
liked me for whatever reason I would feed of off that, any kind of validation. I used
to spend a lot of time on inappropriate chat rooms because of I craved it so much.
Mind you I had friends and had no problem making them, I just wanted people's
approval so badly. Because of all that I could have done better in high school but
during those years doing well in school was never a huge priority for me. As long as
I passed I was good. I became too involved in the social aspect of what high school
offered. I was always with friends, involved in clubs, went to games, dances, etc. I
graduated high school as a pretty average B student, so anxious to start life after
high school and figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. I wanted to adventure
into the unknown and discover what the world had to offer.