Madelyn Daphney: My Story
Though I was born in a small farming town in 1992, I've always had an urge to live bigger. This small town in Ohio doesn't offer much more than farms, fields, and fast food, and that's never been enough for me or my two sisters.
We grew up on a non-working farm in the country and attended a school in the middle of nowhere. I transferred schools after my parent's divorce and dad's new marriage, to a school in the city. I left my animals, my friends, and my home behind, and began a new life that I didn't want.
I was bullied ruthlessly in middle and high school, and fought with my siblings and parents as often as I was bullied. I broke rules, was constantly grounded, and had no respect for authority.
I had a seemingly large number of romantic relationships in high school, all of which ended in tears and hate for my partner and myself. I went through friends quicker than I should have, always finding something wrong with them and never realizing there was something off about myself.
I graduated from hell in May of 2010 and started college at a private university thirty minutes from home. I only made it through half a semester when I had to medically withdraw and move back home.
I wasn't satisfied with home, so, the first opportunity I had, I moved the furthest away that I could. I moved to Hawaii in 2012 at the age of 20 and started a new life my way.
I started and quit jobs left and right, never had enough money, spent my days drinking on the beach, and met too many men. I settled with a marine during his last few months in the Marine Corps, and left Hawaii to be with him in Arkansas.
When that relationship ended, as mine always have, I found myself back at home trying to repair what had been broken. I found comfort in physical relationships, and that resulted in my pregnancy, and the birth of my daughter.
Josephine was born in April of 2015, and we made our home with my mother in that small town in Ohio. I wasn't able to keep a job because of my mental disorders, and so we lived on welfare and child support checks for the first 16 months of her life.
That brings me to now, August of 2016. Josephine and I are moving out of my mother's house into a public housing apartment a few blocks away. I've secured a part-time writing job that only pays $40 a month, and am starting back at college in 20 days as a full-time, online student.
I have big dreams, one of which is currently in the works. My hope is that this dream comes true and I am able to use the benefits of this dream to support myself and my daughter, and to finally stop living off of the government.
I may not seem like it, but I am proud of where I came from, and am happy that home has always been there to catch me as I've fallen, broken back into it.
I've picked up the pieces and slowly but surely am rebuilding myself into a mother, writer, mental health advocate, and animal lover.
I'm on my way to becoming "somebody" after feeling like a "nobody" for the majority of my life. Join me on my journey.
