natalia ailen ramirez (![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} naramirez) wrote,@ 2035-11-19 23:16:00 |
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brunswick, ga
i'm not perfect, but i keep trying
CAUSE THAT'S WHAT I SAID I WOULD DO FROM THE START
CAUSE THAT'S WHAT I SAID I WOULD DO FROM THE START
| The Basics... |
Name: Natalia Ailen Ramirez Nickname: Nat Age/Birth date: 26 / September 3rd, 1984 Marital Status: Divorced/Single Occupation: Teacher (Certified K-8, currently teaches 7th) @ Chatham Island School |
| Personality... |
3 defining positive traits: Nurturing/Caring, Approaches things with an open mind and open heart, optimist 3 defining negative traits: Stubborn, occasionally will let fear get the better of her, still caught in the past (in some ways) |
| IC Questions... |
What is the most important event in your life to date?: The day I had my son, Tony. Life had gotten pretty complicated for me up until that point. Which isn't to say the complications went away immediately after, but. I think, even with the help of my mom, and Nana, that I felt very alone during my pregnancy. It was my own doing, but once Tony was born, I kind of realized I'd never really been alone. And that I'd never be alone again. It was more than just the miracle of bringing a new life into the world. For me, it meant a restart. A second chance at making things right. At the time, I didn't start doing everything right, right away, but. He's guided me, every step of the way, since then. Do you have any fears? What would you say is your biggest?: What song describes you most, and why? Alternatively, what is your theme song?: I'm not sure that there's simply one song that describes me the most. When I listen to music, I listen for therapy, for clarity, for meaning in the words of artists who have something to say in their songs. So, the songs that describe me tend to change with the seasons, moods, life experiences that I've gone through. But I guess if there's one song that's impacted my life, that relates to me as much as I've related to it, over the years, it would have to be Kyler England's "You Wait For Rain." It's one of those songs that will always be bittersweet for me. What is the worst thing you've ever done?: What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?: I'd have to say the sunrise, and sunset, at the Grand Canyon. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to take a trip for one of my classes while I was at Tulane, and .. it was the most majestic sight I've ever seen. The pictures you see, online, in the books .. they don't do it justice. And, I think, too .. the way the New Orleans community bonded together after the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. I was at Tulane at the time, before the hurricane, and after the aftermath of it all, and. There is such a resiliency in human beings that I think we forget too easily when we're not faced with hardships. But I saw the people of New Orleans fight for their culture, their survival. They still are. And there's nothing quite as beautiful, or poignant, or even heartbreaking, as witnessing that. Both of these things .. humbled me. More than I could have imagined. Who is the most important person in your life?: My son, Mason Antonio Pruett, though he generally won't listen if you call him anything but 'Tony.' And, he's the reason I'm here. He is the reason I came back, he's my reason for living. At the end of the day, no matter what else happens, no matter what ups and downs have come at me, my son has always been, and always will be, my guiding light. |
| History... |
Natalia Ramirez was welcomed into the world on a sweltering September evening in Los Lunas, NM. Her parents had lived in the New Mexico village for years, preferring the idyllic small-town mentality that made the village what it was to the big cities. Her father, Antonio Ramirez, had made his living in Los Lunas as the village's chief mechanic, while her mother, whose heritage was laced in Comanche ancestry, acted as a valued historian of the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Arts, specializing in the Native American history and ties that abounded within the village. Though they both earned a modest living, both her mother and father couldn't have been happier to have their only daughter. As a child, Natalia quickly learned the values and detriments of innate curiosity. She loved to learn anything and everything that she could, and she was able to retain the knowledge of most things thanks to her excellent memory. Due to her parents each having such distinguishing ancestral backgrounds, Natalia learned as much as she could about both aspects of her heritage. She excelled at her schooling, though she always found time to do things outside of school as well. When it came to athletics, Natalia had always loved to run, but that was where her athletic prowess ended. She spent much of her time with more creative things like reading and writing, and though she loved the serenity that was ever present in her town, a part of Natalia always wanted something more. Her childhood passed, untainted by trials or tribulations, until she was nearly fifteen years old. She could remember sitting in her high school classroom when the principal, a man she'd known since she was an infant, came to the room and pulled her from it. He provided her with the news of her father's death -- from what should have been routine maintenance on one of the resident's vehicles. She later learned that he had been crushed to death after one of his instruments had failed to act in its intended capacity. A personal tragedy to be sure, but nothing more than a horrible accident. Her mother was devastated, which left Natalia to act as the adult in the relationship. The situation got bad enough that Natalia finally contacted her paternal grandparents who turned out to be living on a small island in Puget Sound, called Chatham Island. They insisted that she and her mother come to live with them, but getting her mother to agree was a different matter entirely. In the end, her mother acquiesced and they moved into the modest house her grandparents occupied. Having developed the tendency to naturally want to take care of her family, Nat settled into a similar role, often taking care of her mom and her grandparents, at least as far as helping them out the best a teenager could. In moving into her grandparents' house, Nat also found that she was living next door to a boy named Mason Pruett, a boy her age that had grown up on the island. She was quickly drawn to Mason and the pair developed a fast friendship. She found that, though they'd grown up in areas that were similar in size, that he was often impressed by what he perceived as a worldliness that he believed her to have. And in turn, she was always charmed by his chivalry, from the times he offered to walk her home (when neither one of them had a car) to the times he offered to drive her home (when he finally saved up enough). He became one of her first friends, and certainly one of her best, making the transition from Los Lunas to Chatham Island just a little easier on her. If Mason helped with making her feel at home, though, so too did many of the other locals on the island, including one girl in particular: Amelia. Nat and Amelia met early on when Natalia went out for the track team in an attempt to reclaim some familiarity within her life. Track proved much better than that, though, as she and Amelia began to bond. They were different enough that Nat always found their friendship to be interesting and fun, and similar enough that they just got along. Making friends in general became easier once she'd settled in. Through Mason, she met Ryan, Mason's closest male friend. She and Mason also began seeing each other, though that didn't happen until the start of their junior year. They had become inseparable, both equally smitten with each other. He was the first person she ever felt this feeling of love for, and for awhile, that made everything okay. She was content to be on the island for the moment, with her family, her friends, and Mason. So content that after graduation, she and Mason got married. They were both young, sure, but they'd both always assumed that they would be able to get through anything together. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Their newlywed phase was blissful, but eventually, Natalia was reminded of what she'd always dreamed of: getting out. It wasn't Chatham that was the problem, of course, because she'd wanted that for herself even before she'd ever left New Mexico. It was the feeling of wanderlust, the feeling that she needed to get out and see more of the world. And her chance at that came when she was accepted at Tulane University. Still, she struggled with the desire to leave and the desire to be with her husband, to stay in the town that had really become her home. The decision was one of the hardest she was ever faced with, and not even confiding in her best friend made it any easier, though Nat always thought that Amelia understood why she wanted what she did. With the decision heavy on her heart, Natalia brought her hopes and dreams to Mason. She wanted to get out, yes, but she wanted him to come with her. She rationalized that it wouldn't be forever, but Mason didn't want to leave his hometown. Hurt and frustrated, Natalia acted rashly. Taking her acceptance, she made the decision to go without him. There was no way she could have known that she was a couple of weeks pregnant at the time. Before she left town, she promised Amelia she would always keep in touch with her, and that she'd come back and visit as often as she could. It didn't take Nat too long, however, to realize she could only uphold half of that promise. Once Natalia was settled at Tulane, she began to question things like her decision to go, her marriage, everything and anything that could be questioned, really. Amidst the vibrancy of New Orleans and the friends she made there, she decided to end Mason's misery -- by sending him divorce papers. In all honesty, she didn't realize how much that would hurt him. Not until after they'd been sent and she found out she was pregnant, which seemed to happen one right after the other, by the way. Feeling awful, Nat confessed to Amelia, on the phone one night, that she wondered if she'd made the right choices. At first, she kept the word of her pregnancy a secret from her best friend. She knew Amelia was still back in Washington, and still close to the people she'd grown up with, and she didn't want to put her in the middle of the crossfire. When Natalia's family found out that she was pregnant, they immediately insisted she return. Always willful and stubborn, she refused their insistence, claiming that she had a right to make her own life, especially now that she and Mason were no longer married. Although they were frustrated by this decision, they weren't going to leave her hanging out to dry. That just wasn't how the Ramirez family worked. So instead of her moving back to Washington, her family moved to New Orleans for her. This was a huge relief when her son, Mason Antonio Pruett, was born (though she took to calling him Tony). After Tony was born, life was a constant balancing act. She continued to keep in touch with Amelia, and continued to keep the secret from her. It wasn't until she learned that Amelia's fiance had been killed in a car accident, that Natalia really reinforced her vow to be there for her friend. It was concern for her friend that prompted Nat to finally meet up with her friend, after so long. The trick in seeing her friend again just involved finding a time when she could do that, and bring Tony with her at the same time. She ended up finding Amelia working her way through Europe, their reunion a mixture of bittersweet and happy, and it was then that Natalia revealed her secret. She introduced her son to 'Aunt Amelia,' and begged Amelia not to tell anyone. Nat always maintained that, when the time was right, she would tell Mason. Her friend agreed not to tell anyone, and for the rest of the time that Nat was there, she enjoyed reigniting her friendship with the other woman. Her departure was as bittersweet as her arrival had been, but eventually, Nat had to get back to the real world. She still had her schooling and her parents to take care of. Time passed, each year bringing its own milestone (though most years, it was her son's birthday). Natalia endured the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina with the rest of the Tulane students, finished her dual degree in history and education, and eventually began teaching middle school social studies in one of the areas of New Orleans that hadn't been affected by the natural disaster. For five years, Natalia consistently questioned, if only to herself, whether or not to tell her ex-husband about his son. By the time Tony was five, though, he had started to resemble his father much too closely for Nat to be able to ignore any longer. So, she came back to Chatham. With her teaching certification, she applied for an opening on the island's school. Her credentials and elementary certification allowed her to take on the role of seventh grade teacher, even though it was less specialized (in terms of courses) than she was used to. After that, it was only a matter of time before Mason found out -- that she was back, and that they had a son. Unfortunately, her ex found out in the worst possible way that someone could find out such a secret. His best friend, who'd been told by her best friend, and things really unraveled from there. It's been well over a year since all of that happened, and there are still times when Nat feels like everything got away from her, but Mason was able to celebrate his son's sixth birthday with him. And, slowly but surely, Nat has been trying to find her place again. She's vowed never to take their son away from Mason again, but the rest of it? She's still trying to work out for herself. |
| Random Information... |
What secrets (if any) are they keeping? It's always been Mason. No matter how much she's tried to tell her heart to move on, Mason Pruett was her first love. And they share a son together .. so it's probably not really a big secret, but. She still loves him, very much. If only life were easier with that knowledge, right? List 5 of more Random Facts about your character: ಇ Nat is ½ Spanish, ½ Native American (specifically, her family can trace their ancestry all the way back to the Comanche tribe) and is very much in tune with her Native-American heritage. She tends to see the spiritual side in pretty much everything, and is very easygoing, almost zen in some ways, because of that. ಇ Natalia stands at 5'4" and weighs about 116 lbs. ಇ She is fluent in both English and Spanish, and along the way, has picked up a few phrases here and there in Cajun French, courtesy of her time spent in Louisiana. ಇ Although she grew up in a small town, Natalia always had big hopes and dreams -- it wasn't until she began teaching that she realized that big hopes and dreams didn't have to mean living in some giant city or traveling the world. ಇ It isn't a stretch to expect to find Nat outside somewhere, during her free time. Some days, it's spent teaching her son things like baseball, or just running around, and other days, she's happiest relaxing by herself. Oddly enough, one of her favorite places to go when she needs to find peace is Mason's father's grave. |
| Player Information... |
Name: Lex Are you over 18?: Yep. PB used: Genevieve Cortese Your contact info: love natalia x0 [AIM, IC], blessingsx@gmail.com [email], OOC Contact Post Where did you hear about the game?: Queen Serenity. =P Link to two third person threads/logs: Number One (Ahaha. Because I know it will be appreciated. Obv. I = Cat), and Number Two, a narrative of Nat, actually! |