The Story On How I Ended Up In Oxnard

For as long as I could remember my parents had a communistic idea on my life how l should live, but that’s how a lot of parents are. I never thought I would be able to pick up my life and move at a young age due to how strict they were, but I did it. Living in with them, it seemed like every day I had no time to do anything important for myself. It was always, “stop everything, and do what my parents tell me to do.”; whether it be homework for class or just trying to give myself a break, they had to be first. They would make me do things they could do all by themselves, drive to the bank or to the store, wake them up to go to work, watch my younger sister who was capable of watching herself. When I was 18 my I moved into a house with my older brother just 2 blocks away from my parents house, and I thought moving would ease up the tasks they made me do but it didn’t work. They still manage to boss me around. This life style I was living caused a lot of confects and fights among us, and most of the fighting was done between my mother and me.

We would fight about the typical teenage things mothers and daughters would fight about. Going out, buying certain items, and driving to places I wanted to hang out at. In addition to that type of fighting, we would fight about a lot of other things. When I would tell her I needed to do my homework or to just wait she would yell at me and tell me I am the laziest kid she knows. Her famous quote was “Even a dog listens and does things better thank you can!” this made me feel as if everything I do for her meant nothing to her. It made me feel like she would rather have a dog than a daughter.

On December 24, 2007 I was at my mother’s house. The house smelled like a traditional home during Christmas. The smell of burning scented candles that smelled like cinnamon and pine tree in the distance filled the house. The house was dark with only the lights of the Christmas tree and candles giving the house some form of light. My family and I were getting ready go to church for Christmas eve mass, my mother had noticed I was wearing a black fleece jacket she considered “inappropriate” for church only because it had some wrinkles. She looked at me up and down with an angry confused look on her face and yelled at me at said, “you’re going to church wearing that ugly jacked? Go change!” Little did she know that I was frustrated from not having any other jackets to wear. I refused to change my jacket and ignored her command. We were all ready and about to leave, both my older brother and younger sister were telling me to change before I angered her even more than she was, I still ignored everything they were telling me. My mom came out of her bedroom ready to go and she saw that I still haven’t changed and she was furious! She yelled at me and said “Elaiza, If you don’t want to listen to me get out of my house, I don’t want you to go anywhere with us. You are a disrespectful child that doesn’t listen!” more words were exchanged and I got fed up with everything I was put through.  
I thought to myself “I’m 18 years old and my mother still tried to control what I wore?” it made me so mad. I stormed out of the house got into my car and left. I was tired of everything I didn’t know what to do anymore. I called my boyfriend Henry sobbing barely able to talk and told him what happened. I told him about how my mother had kicked me out and I don’t know where to go, then he offered to pick me up and I started to pack.

As I was packing and waiting for Henry to arrive I was thinking to myself about how much I have been through, how much I just wanted to leave and not come back. I threw as much clothes as I could into my bags sobbing. Soon after I fell asleep on the pile of clothes I had before me. Two hours and thirty minutes later Henry finally arrives, and we put my things into the car. After packed everything into the car and drove off, I had many mixed feelings. I was scared, worried, happy, relived, and very exhausted. The drive to Oxnard felt like an eternity. We arrive to Henry’s mother’s house, and we were very exhausted from our trip. As his mother was cook a Christmas day breakfast for her family she told us to sleep in her son Niko’s bedroom. The bedroom had sky blue walls with white trimming, the room was very bright and had one of those sliding closet with mirrors as doors.

Henry and I laid on the bed I looked across from me and seen our reflection in the mirror I had so many thoughts running through my head like what was I going to do for money, or if it was going to work out, or if his mother would even approve of me living in with her family. With all the thinking I was doing I had fallen asleep. We woke up an hour after we arrived and joined the breakfast his family was having. I felt so awkward and out of place not to mention I was very exhausted from my trip.  

3 days later Henry’s mother offered me the option to stay and live with her with the condition I help out with the house, go to school, and get a job. I took the offer and my parents were very disappointed in my decision I had made. Although they were upset, I didn’t care about how they felt. I was happy to be out of their control. I found a way to pay for school, I found a temporary job that didn’t last very long and I did help around the house. Moving here was a very big decision for me to make. But I couldn’t be any happier. I still visit my parents at least once a month. Living away from them made me realized a lot of things. It made me realize how hard it is to budget money. At times I feel like I left my mother’s house for no reason because I am still stuffed with a lot of chorus not to mention I actually do have to babysit children. Only time will tell what will happen to me. I plan on moving out and getting a place sometime in the future with my boyfriend, but the way things are really don’t know what to expect.