I’ve known my best friend Stephanie since we were in Kindergarten. We had many classes together throughout our elementary and middle school years. We have always been friends and to this day she is the one person in life that has never let me down. We were absolutely inseparable in high school and created some of the best memories. We were in a few clubs together, Family Career & Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) and the National Honor Society. We traveled to events and held fundraisers which really brought us closer to one another. I love this girl with all my heart and I know she will always be there for me. It is very rare to find true friends and people that will have stick by your side no matter what. There have been times when I was struggling with personal issues, and she was always there when I needed advice or to simply lend a listening ear. There are many unforgettable memories that I will treasure forever. Even though she lives in Ellensburg, I don’t get to see her as often as I’d like. You would think we see each other every day by the way we pick up right where we left off, but time doesn’t affect our relationship. I’m so thankful for having her in my life and I’m so glad that our paths crossed. There is nothing I wouldn’t do for this girl and I know she’d do the same. Little did I know that I would meet such an amazing person in my kindergarten class and still be friends with her after all these years.

10 more days and I’ll be free. Free from books, tests, studying, and homework assignments. I can’t wait to enjoy the summer with my family and friends. This quarter has by far been the most stressful one for me. I have been bombarded with homework and spend many hours studying.This was the first time I’ve ever juggled school, work, and a family.  It has definitely been tough, but it has shown me just what I’m capable of. I’m ready for barbecue’s, swimming, and anything else the summer has to offer. My oldest daughter is going to be graduating from Kindergarten, which means we get to spend more time together.

We are planning a trip to Great Wolf Lodge in Centralia.  We’ve been here a few times but haven’t been there for a while. Me and my fiancé want to surprise our daughters and take them this summer. My girls are going to love it, and I can’t wait to see the look on their faces when we arrive. The Great Wolf Lodge is so much fun for children and parents. I love the wave pool and the water slides, the hotel is beautiful as well. This will be my youngest daughters first time, so I’m excited to see her reaction. She absolutely loves the water, so I know she will have a blast. It’s definitely going to be an eventful summer, full of wonderful memories.

I haven’t had a job since 2010, which was at a nursing home as a housekeeper. I left that job to go back to college in the fall of 2010. I was going to school full time and a stay at home mom to my daughter, that was 2 at the time. Well I haven’t stopped going to school since then but I also haven’t had a job either. (other than being a full time mommy) I recently decided to take on a part time job and now I cannot believe how extremely busy everything is. It seems like I never have a minute just to catch my breath. I want to walk you through a typical day. I wake up at 630, start work at 7 and get off at 1230/1pm. I then rush straight to school for my 1:10 class. After I get out at 2:20 I rush to pick up my daughter at 2:45 from school. After she gets out we head down to Toppenish so I can go to the gym from 4-6. Then we drive back to Yakima and continue our night with homework, dinner, and cleaning. It is very difficult trying to find balance! I’m hoping things start looking better once my schedule evens out from all the training I’m doing. Obviously nothing ever comes easy but I definitely miss being with my baby girl all day.

Everyone always says that time flies by so fast, but I guess I never really pay attention, unless I sit there and truly think about it. I graduated high school in 2008, this was almost 7 years ago!! I can’t wrap my head around the fact that time keeps flashing right before my eyes. My youngest daughter is going to be 2 this august and boy has this time flown by. I wish I could just slow down every now and then and enjoy all the little things in life. Our lives are so fast paced these days that it makes it hard to enjoy anything. I don’t like the fact that my baby girls are growing up. I wish I could keep them at this age forever because it is such a fun and enjoyable stage. I’m really fortunate that I’ve had the chance of staying home with them since they were babies. My oldest daughter is 6 and I stayed with her until she was about 3, which is when I decided to start at YVCC. I think spending as much time with them is the most important thing in life because I won’t ever get this time with them again. They are growing so fast and I don’t want to miss out on seeing them grow up. I sometimes get discouraged about school but then I take one look at them and turn my attitude around because I want to be a good example for them. I want to be able to give them everything that they deserve in life. Everyday I wake up beyond grateful for these 2 little beauties. Because of them I am a better person and I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t have them. I know every parent always talks about how much they love their kids, but I find it hard to believe that there are other people that love their kids as much as I love mine. 🙂

I was sitting here this morning talking to my sister and she mentioned a story that absolutely broke my heart. A one year old baby girl was shot in the head while she was in the car with her parents. There are some horrible and disgusting people in this world. I don’t know how anyone can do such a thing and have no feelings or remorse. What goes through their minds when they do such horrible things? I find it disgusting that the first idea that pops into someone’s head is to fire a gun. I am all for guns and truly believe they are great to have. I have numerous guns that I am not afraid to use if I need to protect myself or my family. But to simply fire a gun to try and act tough for no apparent or significant reason is just ignorant. I have NO pity for idiotic people and truly wish they didn’t exist in this world. A one year old baby died because some idiots thought it was ok to open fire due to “road rage”. I can’t imagine how these parents feel right now. I would be devastated!! I would do everything in my power to make sure I found those responsible and make them feel the pain that they caused me. I’m tired of seeing innocent people and especially children being hurt everyday. You have to be a truly “sick” person to intentionally hurt a child. When my daughter’s get hurt from falling or simply playing around, I feel horrible. There are times when I feel like crying or have cried because I feel so bad that they got hurt. And to think that there are people out there causing harm to their children, really upsets me. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. I hope these idiots get what they deserve and they sure as hell don’t deserve much.

I’ve been sitting here trying to figure out what to write about and have wrote about 2 different posts but deleted them once I was done because I was unsure of them. This is definitely a lot harder than I thought it would be but here goes nothing I’m just going to start writing about something. This past July I traveled to Jamaica with my boyfriend, older sister, brother-in-law, and my dad. We had the best time of our lives, it was my second time being there. My brother-in-law is from Jamaica so he helped us get around everywhere. We stayed at an amazing resort and visited many interesting places. Then the night before we left me and my boyfriend were in the hot tub and he proposed to me! I was in complete shock because we have been together for about 7 years so I didn’t think I would ever see the day. So here I am almost a year later and still clueless on where to start the planning. I have a few ideas and I think we’re thinking next June but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. I don’t know where to start and I’m freaking out because I know I need to step it up. With school I feel like I’m never going to have time to do anything. Hopefully I can get things going and start officially planning it all. Next month everyone that went last year is going except me and my boyfriend because we need to save for the wedding and I am terribly sad that we aren’t going. It was so beautiful and not having any responsibilities for a week was pretty awesome. We decided to hopefully go back next year for the honeymoon though, so that is going to be really fun. I can’t wait!!

Melinda Romero has been attending Yakima Valley Community College for about 4 years now. She graduated from Toppenish High School in 2008 but currently lives in Yakima with her fiancé and 2 daughters, ages 6 and 19 months. She has 2 Chihuahua dogs named Gingi and Marshawna. She currently is attending school full-time and not working.