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My dad's father. Unfortunately, I never met him. His mother re-married to my dad's uncle (His father's brother).
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At Arden Hill Hospital in Goshen, NY
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I was baptized at Sacred Heart Chapel, Monroe NY. My Godparents are in the middle holding me with immediate family members gathered around.
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This is the phase when a child develops imaginitive play by copying what they see others do.
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Even though most 2 year olds start to put a few words together at this age, I wasn't. My parents were worried that I wasn't reaching this milestone like most, so they brought me to the doctor. He simply asked how do I communicate my needs when I want something. Apparently, I simply pointed to everything. My family just gave me everything I wanted. The doctor's solution: saying the word of what I wanted and making me repeat it before giving it to me. I was told I wasn't too happy with this.
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At the age of 2, I fell down the stairs in front of my house. To make me feel better my brother's and my dad got me a teddy bear. It quickly became my transitional object and named "Bear" I then had to sleep with it every night. He even came along on every vacation and was carefully accounted for so he wasn't left behind!
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Even though there's no direct relation, these were my cousins and their parents were my aunt and uncle. Family are those that love you and are there for you no matter what. They're there to give a hand and pull you up when you're down. Celebrate the happy moments in your life. I didn't have sisters but my cousins definitely were mine.
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Received sacrament of Communion.
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Learning how to make candles at Museum Village, Monroe NY.
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I was always climbing and flipping on everything I could so my mom enrolled me in gymnastics.
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This is the year I went to Disney World with my family.
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We didn't take many vacations but this was one I will never forget. We went to Disney World for the week.
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I chose to play the violin in 4th grade. Through my school years I was accepted to play in several special orchestra's. I was picked among many musicians in my district that tried out for the all-district orchestra. I also was a part of the strolling strings group in high school. I continued to play through college. After college, it was hard to find an orchestra to join so I stopped. However, recently I picked it up again and am trying to reach the level I was at.
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No longer considered to be a young child but entering into the period of early adolescense.
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Received the sacrament of confirmation at Sacred Heart Church, Monroe NY. This was considered to be a rite of passage. Like many ceremony's such as a quincera, bar/bat mitzfa; I made the transition from childhood to young adulthood.
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My parents threw me a surprise birthday party at Gasho restaurant.
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My cousin Sue asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding.
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My mother's dad.
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My cousin's daughter was born; Keleigh. This was exciting for me to hold her even though she cried the whole time. I babysat neighborhood kids growing up but never held a baby this young. I was so nervous. It was an incredible experience holding and looking down at her. I thought how the world is in her hands to explore and just know she's going to grow up to one special person.
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For my senior class awards ceremony, I was given the award for the most improved student through the 4 years in math.
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Monroe-Woodbury High School; class of 2003.
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Link to the camp I worked atI got hypothermia and was disoriented. I hit the floating dock in the lake with my head. I suffered a severe concussion and neck pain. I had to eventually leave the job because I was too injured to perform the duties as a counselor.
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After my college graduation I started working at Footings, Inc (now known as AHRC) This agency serves individuals with developmental disabilities. The lessons I learned from them such as to never try to be someone you're not just because you're different and want to fit in with others. Being different is not a flaw. They taught me to be confident with who I am. Working with them made me realize those who are different make the greatest impact on the world.
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This was our 2nd dog; Zeus. He was a lab and shepard mix. He died shortly after Brian.
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My brother Brian proposed to his girlfriend Colleen at Braiside Camp where he worked as the nurse.
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My brother; Brian, was riding his motorcycle to school and a car cut him off turning onto the road he was on. He started riding the summer before the accident and loved it. He was conscious at the scene but later that evening he passed away with my family by his bedside. My parents lost their son, I lost my brother and brother Matt lost his twin brother that day.
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Cleo and dexter
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I graduated from East Stroudsburg Unversity with a B.S. in psychology with a concentration in counseling.
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I woke up Easter Sunday and my left arm was paralyzed. I spent even more time in physical therapy trying to regain feeling and strength.
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While I was driving clients home, a car that was speeding rear-ended my car. I injured my back badly and was forced to stop working. I had to go on disability for an income.
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Climbing this mountain was a huge accomplishment for me since I went through so much physical therapy to strenghthen my back after my car accident.
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Phyllis found out she was pregnant. When we left the doctor's office, we noticed a rainbow. Whenever my family and I see a rainbow.....we consider it my brother putting it in the sky to make us step back from our life and notice that he's with us......and celebrating to the good times or giving us strength through the bad. He was celebrating the joyful news of a new family member to come.
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Click here to see photos and read more about the program!When I was finally allowed to go back to workafter my accident it was hard finding a job. I found myself; a college graduate, working mediocre jobs just to make some money. I finally found a job I absolutely loved. I worked with developmentally disabled adults. The lessons I learned from them changed my life foreve. I wanted to do more for them but my position did not allow it. Because of this, I applied to Ramapo's MSW program.
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When my Pastor came to the hospital to baptize my nephew we told him that in order for Brian to live, we need a miracle. He didn't have enough intestine left to stretch to connect the two ends after cutting out what needed to be removed. Mother Mary Theres Tallon was being considered for being a sain and needed proof of performing miraclest My pastor told us to pray to her for a miracl. We prayed to her everyday for a miracle and to the doctor's surprise and ours, we got our miracle.
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We were good friends in college and was always there for each other. I connected with him again after many year went by. We started dating. This is my first serious relationship and realization of what it means to truly love someone.
