Wow... self... thats all in there?

I am sitting in a at a college computer after my last class of the day typing out a scholarship essay. That alone says a lot to me. The fact that I have made it to college is amazing. The fact that I will graduate, and with great grades, is a goal that I refuse to give up on. I have wanted to go to college since the age of five and was driven to succeed since at least that young. With a love of learning and strong will, I knew where I was headed, but life doesn’t always fall into place with your earliest plans and dreams.
An alcoholic mother, a bottle of pills, a lot of discouragement, and both physical and sexual abuse changed my outlook quite a lot by the time I was 16 or 17 years old and college was no longer a top priority. The purpose was no longer visible and the drive was no longer worth the pain and effort involved. I just gave up. Running scared and many times just running, even after getting away from abuse and drugs. I had lost a huge part of myself.
In 2005, I started thinking and hoping again and dragged my scared hopes into the local Job Corps center. After taking Business technologies, I graduated with my Honors GED in about half the time my trade was supposed to require due to sheer will power and determination. Once I had a place and a little bit of a life established on the outside again, I started enrolled in college. I was terrified and the first semester I enrolled I backed out again, but I kept at myself. Again I enrolled, and this time I didn’t give up. I am now approaching the end of my first semester towards my bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education.
With my degree in education I hope to be able to help other children that may have trouble like I had. Give them a secure, safe, and nurturing environment to learn and grow in when their home is crazy or unsafe. A way for our future generations to get what it is they need: knowledge, understanding, love, discipline, wonder, and a chance. It wasn’t until much later that I learned that I had learning disabilities that added to some of the confusion of my younger years and so I also hope to train in special education as well. Too often a child is too quickly labeled as just slow or lazy when they just need to be shown in a different way.
I just can't believe that I am finally getting my life in some sort of order and finding my way down the right path. I didn't put this up as a way to brag or anything. It was just one of those things where I had to write about what I had over come in life for a class and I got to thinking and realizing how much I had been able to do. Some days you feel like you are getting no where and that there is so much to do in front of you. Just goes to show you that if you just stop and take stock... you never know what you'll find.