“A Bittersweet Life of Mine”

I was born on a typical sunny day early in the morning on July 17, 1999. A beautiful baby
girl which has the most wonderful smile on her face made her parents cried with
happiness. I am the youngest daughter of Mrs. Dionessa Caraniagan and Mr. Rico
Albarico among their seven children, 4 girls and 3 boys. Words can’t tell how blessed they
were for having me and me for having such a loving and caring parents. But, after a year,
things have changed. They got separated when I was just about 1 year old because of
some problems. After that, my mom decided to go to Manila for work and I was left by my
father and other siblings in Cagayan de Oro City wherein I’ve spent my childhood days
there for almost 7 years. An unexpected accident which cause so much heartbreak to us
when my older brother died in a car accident. We tried to reach out to our mother to let
her know about what happened but sadly, she did not came back home not even in the
burial day. Months has passed when she suddenly show up without a notice then she
took me and my brother and brought us here in Davao City where we are currently living.
I started studying in F. Bustamante Central Elementary School at the age of 7 and in F.
Bustamante National High School and graduated there. But, at the age of 10, I was in 4th
grade way back then when I became independent, because I started working to earn
some money to help my mom lessen her expenses especially my expenses in school.
And there I found out the true meaning of my name, that I was born to be an independent
and become a strong woman, and that’s who I am. I am Erica C. Albarico, and my name
really tells who I am as an individual. Erica, “Ruler of All” which means that I freely gives
anyone who are in need and is always attentive to the needs of my family. It’s also
because I need to be strong so that I will become successful in the future especially that
I am product of a broken family, which is very hard for me especially when there are
events in school about family and I saw my classmates having a complete family, I really
feel jealous but I ignored it at the same time because I’m still so blessed that I still have
my mom and siblings by my side to support me. I finished my Senior High School years
in Holy Cross of Bunawan taking up HUMSS Strand. And now, I’m a freshmen at Davao
del Norte State College taking up a Bachelor of Arts in Communication course, and I am
so blessed that I was given a chance to enter the ‘World of College’ wherein my future
depends on it. Honestly, I still don’t know if this course is destined for me because I’m still
undecided on what is my preferred course, but for me it was an interesting course
because I love reading and writing poems and stories, everything about film, and also I
want to explore new things about this course especially gaining some confidence that will
enhance my communication skills so that I can be able to share my thoughts and ideas
to others without hesitation. A philosophers once said, “If you do not change direction,
you may end up where you are heading.” I can relate to it because I am in this situation
right now wherein I’m afraid that my decisions were not right and maybe it can affect my
future. But, I do believe that even if you feel like you are not comfortable with what you
are going through because you are confused, just let it be because you may not know
that there are beautiful things that may showered upon you at the end of the day.