Who Am I Me Narrative

Who am I? I am the youngest of four daughters, no sons, born to my parents Harriett Cole and Joe Harney; they divorced when I was very young (I really do not remember my dad at home, the only memory is riding in dad’s squad car, he was a sheriff deputy, after eating a bottle of baby aspirin—mostly the lights and sound). I was born and raised (by my mother and paternal grandparents) in the Iowa City and Coralville area; in fact Coralville was the Cole family farm until interstate 80 came through and the family farm house still stands today. My father passed in June 2014 after suffering a traumatic brain injury, falling from a ladder at work at the age of 78; he was an electrician by trade and had his own company in San Rafael California until he retired but he continued to do jobs for his former customers and friends after his retirement. Dad’s estate and UIHC paying the nursing courses, has enabled me to return to school and complete my bachelor’s degree. My mother became ill and was in and out of the hospital and nursing home the spring and summer of 2014. Mom passed in September 2014, also at the age of 78, after my sisters and I made the difficult decision to take her home from the nursing home, she was miserable and getting weaker by the second, with Hospice care. The healthcare
Jim and I dated shortly after my divorce, for four and half years, but I needed to focus on my career and children. We began dating again, after ten years apart, when we ran into each other at UIHC and went for lunch about every three months for the first year. We then dated another four and a half years when Jim presented me with a beautiful ring and I accepted , I never expected to get married again, I thought we may live together but never marry. Jim moved into my home, now ours, in rural North Liberty; this meant cleaning out, fixing up and selling his family home in Iowa City, which took over a year and a