As I interviewed my mother, I noticed that her life events actually reflected towards the different stages Gail Sheeny conveys in the different life passages.
During my mother's "Big Breakaway" I discovered that she began thinking about leaving home. The point she made was that she wanted to become "independent." Just as Gail Sheeny explains that during this stage "adults feel the needed to leave home.," moving to America was a way for my mother to enter a life that manipulated her into becoming more mature and independent. .
Although life became more difficult without her parents support, years went by and before she realized it she was going through "The Tyranny of the Shoulds" stage. At age twenty-five my mother got married which reflects tremendously on the task that states "make first major choice such as marriage- And also what shocked me was that my mother mentioned that she thought she was in love and had no idea that she would later realize that the marriage wasn't going to be as permanent as she had planned. This made me think back on the passage where it mentions" strong commitments can later feel trapped by their choices- And surprisingly enough, later in life my mother gets ambushed with her divorce and the idea of becoming a single parent.
During the "Gateway to the Thirties" stage, my mother goes through harsh times as a single parent. During this point in time her life became disorganized which relates to the stage where Gail Sheeny explains " others have a severe and stressful crisis." In her case, the catastrophe was trying to get through the change by working while trying to discipline and support us children and more importantly finding the strength to encourage herself to become strong and capable mother/father. But it wasn't long until she was able to straighten life back together.
Furthermore, my mother enters the "Settling Down" stage. Throughout this period she goes back to college which she is preceding with now.
