My way to a happy life

I, Cathrine, was an only child and 15 years old. My parents and I lived in Seattle, USA.

I attended in a high school called Garfield High School. I really liked the school, probably because of all my friends, my general well-being, and my actually very good grades. I was one of those popular girls, perhaps because I was a “rich-kid” at my school. Okay, maybe I was a little snobbish? I surely had a lot of self-confidence. All in all I was having a great time.

My father had a profitable job in the city of Seattle. He actually owned a company. I think that was the main reason why I was so popular. My mother had a half-time job in a small store on the other site of the street. She was not very well paid, but at this time it was okay because of my father and his job.

Sometimes my father was a little hard to figure out, probably because of his demanding job. I did not see him particularly often, and I felt that the “hard-to-figure-out”-thing was only getting worse. Maybe he had a little stress? Actually I did not take notice of it, until suddenly…

My father died of a blood clot in his brain, and that changed the lives of me and my mother, which I never thought could happen, especially not for me, because why me?
After my father’s death, I got very depressed. I knew that I was not the only one in the world who had lost my father, so I did not ask for help, which was actually what I needed at the time. It was difficult for me to manage my homework, so I got worse grades. Besides, I found out I had exploited my father’s earnings to get friends. I lost them too; they were clearly only after the money, which did not make me feel better. I had a sense of guilt and would never be able to tell my father. It was a terrible feeling.

A couple of years later, in my 18s, my mother and I lived together on a significantly lower expenditure. At that time, I realized how spoiled I really was at the age of 15. However, quite soon after my father died, my mother got a better job and began to make more money.

At the University of Seattle, were I studied literature, I met some new people, and two of them became my boyfriend and best girl friend. I never tried to impress any of them with money or expensive things. Therefore, I knew that they liked me just the way I was, and did not want to be with me for any other reason than love or friendship. Today I understand better what life is all about.