My Mom and Her Time Growing Up in Bend By Connor Martynowicz

My mom, Julie Mero is one if not the most important person in my life. She gets on my nerves a lot it’s true, but from middle school to the present day she’s been both my mom and dad. She went above and beyond to raise me and my sister to the people we are today in the place she was raised herself. Bend Oregon, the place many refer to as “paradise” is where my mom was raised and saw many changes.

My mom moved to Bend Oregon in 1972 when she was only 3 years. At this time according to her, Bend was “nothing but a small town where you would have to travel miles to a place like Portland in order to enjoy the things we enjoy in Bend today like concerts, big shopping areas, and restaurants.” Like most people my mom’s biggest attractions to Bend is the beautiful sceneries and the 4 seasons. Life for my mom did however come with a fair set of challenges. My grandpa would become principal of Pilot Butte Middle School and later vice principal of Bend High School. Due to her father’s status quo on the school board, “I was bullied and ridiculed by my peers” she said. Also due to my grandfather’s standing and Bend being a small town, everybody knew him making it almost impossible to do anything without my grandpa knowing. During her first year of high school, she quickly transferred to the new Mountain View High School to escape the bullying where she would make many new friends and become the captain of the volleyball team. She then graduated high school in 1987.

After High school, my mom decided to take a break from Bend and move to Ashland where she would study at southern Oregon University to get her nursing degree. She then decided to save money and move back to Bend and finish her studies in 1995 at COCC. At this point the city was growing. New businesses came to be and there was less reason to travel outside of town. The population grew and there was no need to call this place a small town anymore. My mom then married my dad and had my sister in 1999. My mom at the time used her nursing degree to assist at a doctors office. In 2002 my mom had me then later got divorced in 2004. From there on out she was a single mom raising two kids. My mom secured a more permanent career at saint Charles and become a night nurse.

Fast forward to the present and both of her kids are doing well. I’m in college and in less than a year I’m going to the military. My sister is using her psychology to work with autistic children. I asked my mom who is now 52 what she is going to do after me and my sister leave. She responded by saying “I will stay in Bend until I retire. But once I do, I will leave to travel with many of my friends who I love dearly. Bend to me is still beautiful but no longer has the same qualities I fell in love with as a child. I love big cities and Bend is far from it but has got the bad qualities of one like massive drug use, High homeless population, and a large influx of people. Security as well feels like a thing of the past. You were once able to leave your door unlocked and everyone protected each other. But I’ve never wished I haven’t grown up here. Without Bend I wouldn’t have had kids who have grown up to be amazing and very different individuals. That alone makes Bend worth every minute I’ve lived here.”