Thomas Flannery

Mrs. Cox, Period-4

5 September 2019
Failure
Failure, something we’ve all experienced before whether for good or bad. Yes, failure
can be good just as it is bad believe it or not. I say this not because I haven’t failed before, but
actually because I have. When I was 4 years old my mom made the decision to move to
Louisiana because it would surround her with family that she needed. She didn’t have her life
together and was ultimately affecting my sister and I. Between the constant moving back and
forth from my dad’s house to my mom’s it got very exhausting really fast. All I wanted was the
best of both worlds like any child would from their loving parents. However, I didn’t realize at
the time just how much harder it would be once she did move to Louisiana. Not getting the
opportunity to see her at all would tear my sister and me both apart. I’d only get the chance to
see her once to twice a year at most, it became very difficult for me very early on in my life and I
understood that. At such a young age I wouldn’t ever quite see where my parents were coming
from and why they just had to get divorced. A thought out of pure curiosity as a small child
would. One thing I managed to do was take the upmost advantage of the time I did have with her
there because I knew it wouldn’t be for very long. I had to grow up very fast as a kid with the
struggle of my mom’s problems and the distance we had between each other. However, my sister
and I were always heavily influenced by our mother into thinking my father was the bad guy and
she never had any wrong doing in the separation and her deciding to move to Louisiana. She was
desperate for custody over us and was willing to do whatever it took to get us to stay with her,
even if it meant lying to us about our own father. Extremely disappointing when I look back on it
now because that’s not the person I’d expect my mother to be and I’ve had to learn through time
that life is what you make of it and to not allow other’s opinions influence your own because at
the end of the day you never really know do you? As a kid I was let down, heartbroken, and even
depressed at times because I felt like my mother failed us. A feeling that no kid should ever feel
especially at such a young age. However, at the same time it has shaped me into the person I am
today and therefore I view as being more of a positive than a negative. My closure to this thought
is no matter what comes our way in life when failure strikes our way we ultimately have two
decisions: to either stay down or get back up. I won’t allow my past to affect my future because
that’s the kind of person I am. Learn from your mistakes and failures and use it to grow.