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Katie Englen was born on June 18th, 1994.
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A timeline of my life from when I was born until the day I pass away.
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I started babbling like crazy when I was about six months old. I also spoke my first word at eleven months.
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During this time, my weight doubled by the end of the first year. I also had no problems sleeping through the night.
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Duing the first 4 months of my life, I cried more than the average baby. I was taken to see a dcotor and I wasn't responding well to the formula I was on. Once I got a new formula, I rarely cried and was a very happy baby that smiled and laughed a lot. I was very attatched to my mom and cried immediately when I had to take a picture with Santa Clause.
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I began pre-school at Co-op Preschool in Garden City with Miss Debbie.
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I had my first major growth spurt. I was almost as tall as my older sister.
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I began to go on play dates with kids on my street. I grew very close to triplets next door; Jon, Jeff, and Joe. I also played with my other neighbor Kristen.
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My parents signed me up to play softball with a bunch of my friends. I was on the Orioles and my Dad was the coach.
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Once I reached 2nd grade, I began to learn a second language. At my elementary school we had a Japanese class once a week,.
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I experienced what a bully was for the first time when I saw my little brother being pushed around by the kid down the street because of his weight. It turned into a physical fight and our parents had to break it up.
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When I was in middle school, I had a friend who had really bad self - esteem problems. She always thought she looked fat and cried often about it. A few months later, I noticed that she had dropped some weight. I told her she looked good and then she just started crying and telling me that she had to starve herself to get to where she was. I made her tell her mom so they could get her eating disorder under control.
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My parents let me get a "Myspace" when I was about 13, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. A few weeks into having it though, I experienced cyberbullying. One of the girls I went to school with was attacking me online.
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I thought I ruled the world when I was still growing up, and I was always fighting with my parents. It was a constant power struggle and I hated the fact that they made the rules and had complete control over me.
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I went through my first serious relationship that lasted about two years. It was great in the beginning and then towards the end, it become very stressful. I was always emotionally and physically drained from it and I felt like the more we tried, the further apart we grew. This was the first time I really experienced a relationship with all the strings attatched.
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At this point in my life I have come to realize who my true friends are. I've bounced around from group to group and the only people who have stuck are the friends I've had since elementary school. I have four extremely close friends that I can go to for anything and they have been around through a majority of my life.
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Once I started college, I had to learn to manage my time better. Rather than always being out with friends, I needed to buckle down and focus more on my school work. It got a little bit more complicated when I started school full time, and working two jobs.
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When I hit my late 20's, I had to go get my eyes checked because I was having a hard time seeing while I was driving. It turns out I became nearsighted, which explained why I couldn't read signs on the side of the road. I had to order a pair of glasses for driving purposes.
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While working two jobs and managing school, I've faced a bunch of complications. I have had situations come up where I needed to find a way out and balance everything at once. Being able to think strategically has helped me a lot because it makes you think about all the possible situations and outcomes.
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Recently, I have witnessed my own boss going through a "mid - life" crisis. He went out and bought two new sport cars, started dating someone about 20 years younger than him, and he also became obsessed with his body image. He isn't married and he always tells me that there is more to life than money.
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One factor of ageism is elderspeak. I have actually done this to customers that walk into my store. Some of the people are hard of hearing and you want to be as basic and direct as you can with them. Using exaggerated emphasis and talking slower is sometimes the only way to deal with older adults.
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No one in my family has ever experienced dementia or Alzheimer disease but my best friend's great grandma did. She had Alzheimer and it was scary to watch because a normal person could just forget things, where they were, or how to act.
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Once my grandpa died, my grandma decided to stay put in the house they lived in together. She always told me that there was no place like home. My grandma was always redecorating the place, working in the garden, and frequently had friends over to admire all the work she had done.
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Katie Englen passes away peacefully in her sleep on October 4th, 2081 at the age of 87 years old.
