Journal+1+-+Loss+of+Innocence

Madison Luckenbaugh: I have many people close to me who have experienced a loss of innocence sometime in their lives. My mother and father both had a loss of innocence dealing with their alcoholic fathers. My mother remembers clearly a time when her father came home drunk. He smashed their cans of tomatoes, and her mother, who can’t drive, got the 4 kids in the car and drove to a pay phone where they called for someone to pick them up. He was so desperate for beer that he rode the kid’s bike because the car was gone. My mother handled this by facing a lot of anxiety and nervousness. She faced a lot of shyness because she was afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. She learned that alcohol is harmful to health and emotions and can destroy relationships. On the other hand, my father’s experience was 24/7. His father had a temper to begin with, but one that worsened with the drinking. His father was physically violent toward his mom which soon became his normality because that’s what he felt was the right thing to do. When things were happening my father and his brothers would try to stay away and busy themselves but if they got stuck in the midst of it all, they would catch up in yelling and fighting. “It’s hard to look back because you take what you have now and you don’t want to remember what you grew up with.” Because of all the hardships my parents faced, they refuse to let the cycle continue and repeat itself, and therefore stay away from any type of alcohol at all.

Adam Linker: Five years ago,my grandpa was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He went through surgery and had it removed. He has regularly been going to the doctor for checkups and everything has been good the past few years. Two weeks ago, he found out that the cancer has returned in his body. The doctors are optimistic that since it was caught so soon, his outlook for a full recovery looks good. He goes to the radiologist for treatment everyday and will continue for seven weeks. Thankfully, the bone scan came back showing that the cancer has not spread to any other parts of his body.

Courtney Idasetima: One of my best friends is going through her parents getting a divorce. She has lost a lot from her old life and she tries to be a happy towards all the changes in your life. Being so close to her I can tell that she is upset about the situation but she tries to make the best out of everything. I think she is handling this well because I know if my parents were going through a divorce I would be a complete mess. There are times when she opens up to me and cries, and I think that helps her cope with this because she can share what she is thinking with someone instead of keeping it bottled up. I guess she is learning that people can fall out of "love" and also that people should not get married unless they think they will stay together forever. Right now I think she is making this more of a learning experience then a reason to get upset all the time.

Emily Nolte: One of my best friends lost her innocence about a year ago when her parents were arguing. They eventually got divorced and had to sell their house. This affected my friend by her realizing the world she lives in isn't perfect. She was traumatically affected. She had to move out of her neighborhood, which I also live in, and had to deal with her parents never getting back together. She also now has to deal with the new girlfriend her dad has, which makes her even more upset. I know this has affected her life hugely, and her loss of innocence.

My father experience his loss of innocence when he was dating my mom. Before his innocence was taken away from him he was one of those guys who just loved picking up girls; that was until he met my mom and started dating her. My dad felt like he had someone who loved him since he never saw his mom because she always worked. He never had a dad in his life. My mom was all he had. One night my dad was exhausted and couldn't stay awake, so when he went to get in his car he fell asleep on the wheel and drove off a bridge. The car was flipped and destroyed. Luckily, my dad was alive and God spared his life. He asked God to save his soul that night, and he came to salvation. This was when he lost his innocence because he realized after his car crash that he was lucky that God spared his life and that God was giving him a warning that his life isn't perfect and he needs to clean it up. if he really wanted to be with my mom, he had to treat her like his treasure. M father now is taking good care of me and my brother and reads to us God's word constantly. He is also a Sunday school teacher at the Church and many people enjoy his ministry. He is also a pilot at SouthWest airlines. When he is with one of his pilots he witnesses to them, making them know that we all could have something amazing to live for, and that is God's word.I'm glad that my dad does these things, it can't get any better than that.

Bobby Lawson

My brother experienced his loss of innocence when he was about 12. This occurred when our Mom an Dad were attending meetings for a family business all day long. This meant that all of his siblings would be home. He would have to take care of all 4 of us plus himself, my brother would have to cook and make food, make sure none of us got into trouble, and occasionally clean the house with our help and make sure that all of our chores got done. This was a pretty large task for a 12 year old to accomplish but he always got everything done. This changed him because he started to learn what it was like to tale care of four kids for a day and he learned the hard work that parents have to put in to be able to take care o their children properly. Now he knows what it is like to be an adult and this effects him because he is more independent now and doesn't rely on other people to do things for him because his eyes were opens up by the fact that parents always have to do their best to take care of their children if they want to raise them properly. This is the loss of innocence that my brother experienced when he was still young and it made him see the world through more of an adults point of view rather than a childs point of view.

Gavin Mayne: My father experience his loss of innocence when he was dating my mom. Before his innocence was taken away from him he was one of those guys who just loved picking up girls; that was until he met my mom and started dating her. My dad felt like he had someone who loved him since he never saw his mom because she always worked. He never had a dad in his life. My mom was all he had. One night my dad was exhausted and couldn't stay awake, so when he went to get in his car he fell asleep on the wheel and drove off a bridge. The car was flipped and destroyed. Luckily, my dad was alive and God spared his life. He asked God to save his soul that night, and he came to salvation. This was when he lost his innocence because he realized after his car crash that he was lucky that God spared his life and that God was giving him a warning that his life isn't perfect and he needs to clean it up. if he really wanted to be with my mom, he had to treat her like his treasure. M father now is taking good care of me and my brother and reads to us God's word constantly. He is also a Sunday school teacher at the Church and many people enjoy his ministry. He is also a pilot at SouthWest airlines. When he is with one of his pilots he witnesses to them, making them know that we all could have something amazing to live for, and that is God's word.I'm glad that my dad does these things, it can't get any better than that.

Paige: **One of my best friends, no name mentioned, once lost some of her innocence a few years ago. She was in a abusive, long-term relationship. She prefers to talk to me in person about the subject, so I am currently not able to answer any of the following questions**

Maddie Smolin: My dad experienced a loss of innocence when he was about 17. He lost his father to cancer. He and his dad were really close and did almost everything together so he didn't handle it well. He kind of suffered in silence and never really shows his emotions around me. I really think it made him realize how harsh the world can be. He learned to live life like everyday was your last. He accepted the fact he was gone and is doing well today. I think that losing your father at a young age really makes you grow up fast. Your parents are those people that are always there for you no matter what, It must be devastating to lose one of them...

Rachael Nelson: My dad lost his innocence after he left the FBI. Before he was a FBI agent he had always viewed the world in a positive way. Now, after a long time of working with crimes he saw how cruel the world could be, and he never looked at it the same. He became a little more isolated. He didn't trust many people and he kept his feelings to himself. He learned how to deal with different people and to question things more. The FBI changed his life and made him a wiser person. He got through some of the most toughest times anyone could have and now today its "all good in the hood".

**Cullen Laygo:** The person I am planning on learning from more is my family's close family friend tita Christy. When she was younger she apparently didn't take care of herself as much as she should of, and she had to get surgery. I think what she learned from it, is to take care of herself better. Right now tita Christy is fine and healthy right now and is taking care of herself alright. I plan on trying to learn more about this by asking her more about it during the coming weeks/months. I would like to learn how it happened and why it happened also.

**__Caitlyn Kunkel__** My mother experienced her parents being divorced when she was six, and then her step-mother came into her life when she was eight. She was okay with it at first because she was nice, but around the time when she was nine, she started to show her real face. She lost the trust of her father because he wanted no part of it. She learned to fend for herself because no one was willing to protect her from her step-mother. She knows how //not// to parent. She learned to only trust herself. Now she has a very hard time trusting anyone other than herself but otherwise is doing fine.

Shannon Maguire: *names are changed* I have a friend, Jenn, who was in a relationship with a guy named Dave. They were really happy at first, obviously, since they were in the "honeymoon stage." Ever since I met Dave though, I had a bad feeling about him. Well, after a while I noticed that he was abusive and I told Jenn. She continued to be with him for 9 months. After she realized he was abusive she broke up with him and had her texting taken away so he couldn't text her. This made her realize that not everyone is going to be perfect in this world, and that not everyone is as nice as we would hope they would be.

Adam Kunkel When my mom was seven and my aunt was ten, they witnessed their stepfather beat their mother, my grandmother. Their stepfather was an alchoholic, and was drunk at the time. He was mad at my aunt about something, and my grandmother moved to protect her and he started violently punching my grandmother while my mom and aunt watched, screaming. I'm not sure exactly what happened next, but my aunt went to get help, and he left, and my mom's father came and chaged all the locks on the house. For a while, they went and stayed at my great-grandma's house. Because of my grandmother's emotional distress, my aunt felt like she needed to become the "mother" of the house for the time being, and take care of her mom and younger siblings.

**Ian Mansberger:** ** Someone close to me that I think might have experienced a loss of innocence is my uncle. He is not a real uncle but he is such a close friend to my family that we just consider him to be one. His dad had a heart attack and I think that made him realize the situation he was in because later in life he actually had a heart attack of his own. This had a great affect on him. He saw that the way he was living, his diet, his eating was not working out and he doesnt want another heart attack. Now he is trying to be more determined and driven to be healthier. **

** Tori mutzel: ** My papaw lost his innocence **when he was having heart faliures. He was in the hospital for most of the year. And if he didnt get a heart in a certain amout of time then he would have died. But some lady had been in a car accident and had died but her organs were still working. So he had gotten a heart transplant so that he could stay alive. Then after this event he relized how crul this world is.**

Sierra Hobbs

When my grandmother was 13, her mother left her family. This forced her to have to grow up. She couldn't be a child anymore because she had to take care of her 4 brothers. They were all younger than her. She was forced to take on the role of the family's mother. She had no help from her father because he had a very bad alcohol addiction. He was the reason her mother left so she had very little respect for him. She felt that she was on her own to take care of brothers. She was very overwhelmed with responsibility at a very young age. She learned a lot from the situation, like a good work ethic because of having to do all the things she had to take on. She also learned not to drink because she doesn't know how it could effect her. Now, she still has a strong work ethic and a very close family.

Alexis

One person I know that had a loss of innocence when they were younger was my Mom-Mom. My Mom-Mom wasn't a young child but she was in college when the traumatic event of having her mother pass away turned her life upside down and caused her to look at the world in a different way. She was a sophomore in college and her mother was very sick with cancer. She had it for about 6 months until she passed away and it was very hard for my Mom-Mom to accept the fact that her mother is no longer alive. It was also hard for her to keep up with her school work while dealing with the death of her mother. What my Mom-Mom did learn from it is that life is precious and you should never take it for granted. As of now though, she has accepted it. It has been around 60 years since the death of her mother but she is sorry that she never got the chance to see her great-grandchildren.

Brett Lomicky

My Mom experienced her loss of inoncence when she was only nine years old. Her parents had just bought a flower shop causing them to have to work long hours from early in the morning before she woke up until nine at night.She had two sisters one who was older, and one younger then her. Her older sister generally left the house when she got back from school, so my Mom had to take care of herself and younger sister until her parents got back. She had to cook and watch out for her little sister, and she was only nine. As she got older it became much easier on her as she could take care of her sister, and go out and do her own things since her sister was old enough to be alone. My Mom learned many things from this like watching out for a kid, which made her have to grow up faster then maybe what she intended. Now, my Mom is able to balance her time through having a job, and being their for her kids all the time.

Ashlee Kuntz When my dad was younger his mother was put in the hospital due to depression issues. My dad's father was unable to care for him at the moment. This tragic event caused my dad to have to mature and grow up faster and sooner then he should have had to. He was adopted at such a young age by his aunt and uncle who had the time and money to take care of him. Not having his mother and father around caused him to look at the world so different then what he thought it was. From this, my dad has become a very independent person and takes care of himself very well. Growing up without your parents is a hard thing to do and you can only imagine what he had to go through knowing he would never see them again. Now a days my father always makes sure he sees his kids, because he knows what he went through, and he doesn't want to go through the same thing with his kids.

Morgan Lightner When my dad left, my brother, at that time 14, thought that he had to step up and be the man of the house. It made him grow up way faster than he should have. He sort of grew this hard shell around him and became tough because he thought now it was his job to tell my sister and me how we should behave. As the years past, he realized it's okay for a parent to leave, and it doesn't mean you have to become an adult right then and there. Right now he's moved on form that and is less bossy than he was before. I think my dad leaving only made him stronger.

Bryce Lerew My mother experienced a loss of innocence when she was in LPN school. She had her first patient to die. She had to do what you always do when YOUR patient dies. She had to wrap the body in a body bag, and role him to the morgue on a bed. This was a huge eye opener for her. She found out, the hard way, that your patients are your responsibility, even though that it wasn't her fault that he died. This probably made her want to quit, but she didn't. She is still a nurse today. She realized that that is just part of the job and you just have to let some things go.

Austin Heidelbaugh

My grandmother lost her dad at a very young age. She had to take care of her little brother all by herself because her mom was almost always busy with work. She had to grow up and mature father than others not just for herself but also for her brother. She lost her childhood and had to start taking care of her brother, always making sure everything was okay for him. She became almost a second mother to him.

Luke Hinderer When my brother was born he had crooked feet. When he was four years old he had surgery on both of his feet. He had cast on for 8 months and after he got them off he could walk right. When he was eight years old he was diagnosed with some kinda of rare disease. When he eats food that hes allergic to his throat swells up with white blood cells and then he cant breath or swallow right. the foods he is allergic to are dairy products,beef,and wheat.It is very hard to make sure he doesnt eat any of this stuff because if so he could die.

Katie Hackos One of my friends had lost his innocence a couple years ago. When he was born, his dad left his mom. She was left all alone to take care of two children. A could years ago they lost their home. The had to spend days and nights in their mother's van. He would go to school everyday pretending everything was okay. This went on for three long months. After this, he looked at the world differently. He later bought his mom a new car, the bought a new house, he completely changed the way he dressed, and completely changed the way he looked at the world.