My Life: From the Back Burner

By La'Brea Aquaria

This book is about my life and the struggles I have faced, and the things I have come through. This book tells of some of my ups and downs in my life. The story that is being told is being told by myself, so some of the stories made me cry as I was writing. This book is a part of my heart and soul. I had to go way back in my mind and relive the stories; those moments in time.
This book is about my fears, and some failures that I had to overcome to keep myself together no matter what I had to face during those times in my life. I want everyone to know that if I can overcome all of the things I have faced over the years of my life, you can too. I hope you are inspired by my story to fulfill your dreams, and to let no one tell you that you cannot do something. You can do anything you want to do that makes you happy.
If I can find inspiration through all that I have gone through in my life, then most certainly anyone can. This book is to give you confidence in yourself, and to help you to look deep within yourself and find the greatness that is within you that you may do great things.
Don’t let your dreams die. Don’t give up on what you want to do in your life, no matter what anyone say. With that being said, keep your head up. Have faith. Go out there and do big things. Believe in yourself, because if you don’t, who will? Encourage yourself. Sometimes you have to pat your own self on the back. You have to lift yourself up.
There are times when you have to be your own cheerleader. Stay inspired, love yourself. Respect yourself and others. This book is about being inspired, lifting everyone up, and to let everyone know that their dreams are important, and so are they.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LifeRich Publishing
• Release date: Jun 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781489742360

La'Brea Aquaria

I am La’Brea Aquaria. I am the oldest of my sisters and brother. I have five children, three boys and two girls. I have been married for twenty-one years to my husband, who I love and adore. I am a Christian, and I have been since 1999. I was raised in the church; I grew up Methodist. I enjoy reading, writing, drawing, and singing. I enjoy spending time outside in nature. I love spending time with my husband, and talking to my children. I also enjoy watching all of my favorite television shows that I grew up watching as a kid. Writing this book has been a journey for me. I enjoyed every minute of it, even the sleepless nights. I enjoy working, so I guess this is why writing this book didn’t feel like work to me. Writing is something I have always enjoyed doing since I was young. I always knew that I was going to write something great someday. I did not know it was going to happen this fast though, because I had put it on the back burner to raise my children, and be a wife to my husband. I have gone through many things that has led me to writing this book. I already have a second book in mind, but I will not say what it will be as of yet. I am very happy of the accomplishment I have made. This has been a long time coming for me. This is a dream come true. I thank God for all He has done for me to make this happen. I thank Him because without Him, this would have never happened. My life has been a journey that has brought me through so many obstacles, ups and downs, twists and turns; the whole nine yards. If I had to do it all again, I would not change a thing. May God bless all who reads my book. The journey has been fun. Looking forward to the next one very soon.

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ISBN: 978-1-4897-4235-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4897-4236-0 (e)

LifeRich Publishing rev. date:  06/07/2022

Contents

1   The Early Years of My Life

2   Entering Middle School

3   Headaches

4   The Big Move

5   Starting Over

6   Blessed

7   Going Through the Motions

8   Outgrown

9   Overcoming My Trials

Growing up I knew there was something out of the ordinary about me, I was the odd one out in the family who did not fit in with the rest of the children. I was reserved. I stayed to myself. I was different from the rest of my family. I grew up going to church with my grandmother and singing in the choir. I grew up in humble beginnings and I was thankful for what I had. I tried to set a good example for the younger children since I was the oldest.

Every day was not perfect, but I made the best of it. I began to realize that I had gifts and talents that could one day make my life better than what it was. I never gave up on my dreams of being who, or what God created me to be. This is a reminder to never give up on yourself, your dreams, and your aspirations, or what you want to do in your life. All it takes is a little faith, guidance, and perseverance to make your dreams come true. There was a time when I thought I was never going to get to do the things I wanted to do because of my health. I thought that my life was over in that area of my dreams.

I became a mother at an incredibly early age. I did not know how I was going to raise a baby and go to school at the same time, but I did what I had to do as a mother. I had my first son when my time came, I was so excited! As a first-time mother, I did not know what to do. I am glad that my mother was there to help me take care of my son while I went to school. It was extremely hard for me to leave him because I wanted to be with him every day. I could not wait until school was over at the end of the day so I could go home.

Times were hard for me because I was a single parent raising a child trying to go to school, but one day my son became ill. I grew up in the country and the mosquitos were terrible in the evenings. When we went in the house from sitting outside, my mother was holding my son, and I saw a bump on his leg that looked like a mosquito had bit him, and it had a red mark next to it. I did not give it a thought because I knew that it would eventually go away. The very next morning I got up as usual and began to get ready to go to school. When I picked up my son to kiss him before I left, he was hot, and his tongue was very red. He had blisters and small bumps on his body. We rushed him to the hospital and they proceeded to check him in as I gave the staff his information and mine as well. They took him and rushed him to the room where they proceeded to put him in a cold bath to lower his temperature. His temperature was not normal. I and my mother waited outside the room because they would not let us go into the room with him. I just lost it; I broke down because I thought it was going to be the last time, I ever saw my son alive. My mother called the school to let them know why I was not at school, and that I may be out for a good while because my son was in the hospital.

Those days were dark and frightening. I never thought that something like that would happen just overnight. After all of the tests were conducted, that is when the doctors and nurses came in our room and told us that my baby had Kawasaki Heart Disease, and that it was rare. They told us that we had to take my son to a children’s hospital. I did not know how that was going to happen because we did not have reliable transportation to get him there. God stepped in and worked a miracle for us. I do not remember exactly how Shriners for Children were contacted, but they helped me with the transportation to get my son to the hospital. They paid for everything. I did not have to pay for anything. I was so grateful that they helped me get my son to the hospital and back home when it was all over. My son grew up to be the man I knew he would be. This is just a snippet of what is next.

One

THE EARLY YEARS OF MY LIFE

I remember the very first day I started kindergarten. I was excited to go to school. It was scary at first because I was not used to being away from home. I made lots of friends. I enjoyed learning new things, such as writing the alphabets, and learning what my name looked like written on my name tag. I always used my middle name because my first name was so long that I could not spell it. I enjoyed going out to recess, it gave me time to get acquainted with other children my age. I enjoyed when we would have arts and crafts set up in the centers to teach us how to do things, such as mix colors, paint, and draw.

I really enjoyed when we would sit in the hallway and watch films from the film projector on the big white screen. It was also the very first time I had my own locker to put my things in. Even though I was just starting school, I felt so grown up. It was hard getting up so early in the morning, but I made the best of it. I had to wait on the bus to come because I lived in the country.

I thought that the day would be good every day, but it was not. Some days I felt sad because I felt like I did not fit in with the other children. I was thankful that I could run and play with other kids my age, but some children can be so cruel. There were times when I did not want to go to school, but I knew I had to go so I could learn the things I needed to learn to be smart. I enjoyed eating lunch with my classmates. I had never been in a school cafeteria before, it was strange having