Angela Shields:
CLASS OF 1996
Cony High SchoolClass of 1996
Augusta, ME
Angela's Story
I very much desire the only photo I've seen of myself and Mrs. Nancy Ruark that's in the year book.
I am an introverted person that hides most of the time, hence the lack of photos of me. My likes are expressed on my Facebook.
I've got two daughters; I got pregnant the summer I graduated from high school.
I've worked all over the place and never went into Interior Design since I had children and Maine's a great place to raise them. Interior Design is easiest to earn an income with in states where people utilize the service more often, and I really only desire to do personal spaces, not businesses.
I've got a large degree of pride in the fact that I had an average of 85% or higher in grades at Cony for all four years considering the situation I was in and coming from. There's been some dark times during those years, but I still did it and did it well. I did the best my senior year in my opinion, as I worked part-time the whole year and filled my schedule with classes except for maybe one study hall.
When I look back, the reason I did so well was I'm smart enough to get the grades but had too much to really deal with and so functioned best in the small class settings where I could go at my pace. It's easy to be distracted when your mind has things going on that you need help with but no one there that can help. CHAPS, which was Cony High Alternative Program for Students, was perfect for me and got me to the finish line so I could get full-time employment easily afterward.
Without it, because then the mainstream was unsympathetic to trauma and its long-term effects would've disciplined me harshly, I would've quit probably my sophomore year if not earlier.
I enjoy sewing still--I made things in high school sewing classes.
I challenge everything, am an independent thinking, self-described nerd that loves deeply and passionately. Oh, and I also still have the items I got from the Project Sunrise, thanks so much for it! The plastic tower has no wheels now, but I just love it because I'm obsessive compulsive, so on the surface it get's sloppy in my home, but open anything and it's all organized. I'm quite insane about it too--neurotic.
I got the help I've always needed with my problems now, am going to even do EMDR which has a great success rate.
I may've been more than a disabled worker mother paying child support by now if I'd done things differently, but I really can't see it that way since the past needs to be dealt with properly before I can find stability in my future.
Once I get my EMDR, I plan on focusing on getting a sewing machine, a table to us...Expand for more
e for it, and make a stockpile of quilts. Right now I'm trying to start a blanket of acrylic yarn using the basic knit-stitch. I just learned two years ago how to knit and crochet by using YouTube. (I found knitting needles are at Goodwill; I want some more.) This is something practical and the least expensive I can use to find ways out of disability and, I don't know, maybe some online employment too. I've started a blog page, but I've gotten discouraged with writing. I need something where I can go at my own pace to keep myself off of the old ice pack; I'm sick of that thing! I've been considering creating a video journal on YouTube for people like me to get help with being overwhelmed and pulling ourselves up again. I feel I could really help them with it.
I know the most successful people do what they love and have more than one source of income, and this is why I'm considering more than one thing to make money from. I've been learning new skills to do this, while going through some kind of mood disorder stuff at the same time, and now I've joined a PTSD group for women, I get counselling weekly, and am constantly taking tests and researching who I am. I've completed a group called Dialectal Behavioral Therapy too. I think I can easily state my case that I haven't been idle.
I know I already said so much about myself, but I believe my spiritual reason for being born was to break the cycle of dysfunctional families. My children have lived with their father--I was with him for all four years of high school and most of my eighth grade year of junior high until 22.5 years old--and I have visitation and 50/50 parental rights and responsibilities, and this presented a new situation of no daddy issues.
They're exceptional students and going to college after high school. My oldest wants to be a psychologist for rehabilitation. My youngest is probably going to switch a few more times before she decides. Much different than their parent's upbringing of welfare and violence from drug abuse of substances like alcohol and PCP, they've still witnessed the heartbreaking reality of such a distant family; they've witnessed the cycle. Members of the family that had vast potential, but because of the cycle are mostly lost to us and we don't know how to get them back.
This experience will be the drive to make them passionate contributors to society. I'm trying like mad to be a good example for them by sticking to it, exhausting all my available resources, and making sure they know my problems aren't theirs. They're my problems for me to deal with and I'm doing it everyday.
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Register for Free to start a reunion event!
Photos
