Living in California as a teenager of prosperous parents, I was afforded certain things that the normal teenager was not. I had nannies from the day that I was born and I rarely saw my parents as my father was a major auto insurance los angeles california. He made the big bucks representing many celebrities and influential people. My mother always threw huge, extravagant parties and always made sure to have on the latest fashion. I was the baby of the family and the only girl so it didn’t take much prying to get my way. I had definitely learned how to manipulate my parents at an early age and that is probably the reason why I was the way I was. My mother always told me that I was a surprise child as my older brothers were ten and twelve years older than me. However, she made sure to make me feel special whenever she was around to tell me that God blessed her with me. While, our lifestyle was something that you read in magazines, it was normal to me as this was all I knew and I loved every minute of it.
I thought everyone had a private jet and 5 houses. I thought it was normal to fly a hairdresser from New York to cut your hair and spend $2,500 on a pair of shoes; that was until my brother’s convinced my parents that I should be investing more in school instead of spending money on Rodeo Drive. I swear that they were jealous of me as I was the favorite child but, somehow they convinced my parents that by sending me to study abroad would change the way I viewed life. My mother was a bit hesitant but, was finally persuaded that it would be good for me. I left for France to begin my semester of studying abroad and was quickly aware of how different my family was. There was no one to unpack my clothes or do my hair, no one to give me a massage or give me a facial which was becoming more apparent by the breakout of pimples that had consumed my face. I counted down the days until that semester was over as this poor lifestyle was not for me. My brother’s were right it did show me that we lived quite a different lifestyle than the average Joe and it showed me that I never wanted to live that way.
Thankfully, the time went by fast and I was soon on my way home however, I was not prepared for the changes that had occurred in my absence. My father apparently got tired of the flashy lifestyle and never being home so, he decided to open up another attorney office that was closer to home; my mother was not thrilled with this idea as she was frightened our lifestyle would change. My father and another person from his previous law office opened up business energy consultants. At first business was slow as he was starting out in a new field that he was not accustomed to however, my brothers helped him by providing SEO and getting his name out there by traveling to courts and hospitals and shortly thereafter my father had reigned victorious in the world of personal injury attorneys and my mother was relieved that her lifestyle would remain the same.
At this point my mother had decided that getting a complete face lift at 43 was the right thing to do after all she had been receiving Botox since she was 24. My father begged her not to but, knowing my mother he has no chance at stopping her. My mother went in for her face lift surgery and came out with a full body lift. Apparently, one of the nurses accidentally switched her file with another client. My father immediately drew up a law suit and won the most money for this type of medical error in the county. My father’s accountant called him to congratulate him on the win and said there was really no need for him to work anymore as soon as the settlement comes in as we would be more than comfortable and he has reached his retirement goal a full 15 years early!
My mother seemed to change after the body lift; she seemed to be needier of my father’s attention. She pleaded with him to take some time off from work to spend with her but, that was never going to happen. My father was a work horse, never needing financial help from online cash loans and would go stir crazy if he was not doing something regarding work. I could tell that the relationship with my mother and father was coming to an end as his work nights got later and later and my mother’s crying got louder. That summer my mother decided to take some time to visit her sister in Georgia, she said she just needed some time to think about her life and enjoy a change of scenery from the lifestyle of the rich and famous. She wanted to feel needed and my mother’s sister had 6 kids under the age of 12 and they did not have any nannies. She told me she would be home before I started school and that we would do some shopping on Rodeo which made me super excited! I spent the summer going on trips and hanging out with friends. I was so busy that I had not realized that I had not spoken to my mother in nearly two months. I called her the day before I started school as she had not returned as promised. She told me that she wanted to spend a few more weeks and that I could have one of my nannies take me shopping since, that was the reason I called. I hung up on her out of anger and frustration and that was the last time I spoke to my mother; from what I gather from my father; my mother met some man down there that owned Atlanta Cleaning and decided to stay with him. My father didn’t seem to care as he was too busy with work and whatever else that kept him out so late. My family was broken like so many of my friends and I now realized that it was better to be poor and happy than to have all the riches in the world.