Ann’s decision to quit her job as a teacher was prompted by the fact that she felt that this vocation was taking a toll on her health. According to Ann, no matter how hard she tries, she has not been able to commit to good health practices. Other than weight problems, Ann has also been observed to have poor lifestyle habits that include poor diets and lack of physical exercises. Ann has also had a triple by-pass that resulted in complications that had her hospitalized for three weeks. She has been hospitalized for having chronic joint pains and this problem was later found to have connections to her weight. The mother has had repeated issues with obesity among other issues. The mother has been hospitalized a few times over the last ten years. Furthermore, the father receives a good amount of involuntary physical exercises through the activities of his business. Sam’s Body Mass Index (BMI) is within the recommended limits. The father has had a productive life and he does not have any recorded health issues. This family unit is small and its members are of relatively good health except for the mother who has had a number of health scares. A good number of the extended family members have managed to acquire a college degree or higher. Consequently, no family member has managed to gain admission to a state-level college or higher. None of the immediate first or second-generation family members has exhibited any exceptional intellectual abilities. The daughter wishes to undertake a business management course in the near future. The father and the son have both received a college education but the mother has not. Nevertheless, Peter’s health has not yet suffered from the change in environment, as one would expect. The father, mother, and daughter live in an environment that offers them relative peace of mind as opposed to the son who is perpetually stressed by the constraints of being a driver in a city with chronic traffic issues. The family expresses a desire to spend more time together but at the back of their minds they reckon that this will be possible once they are all ‘comfortable’.
The father is focused on withstanding competition from upcoming body shops that are run by younger proprietors, the mother is living in constant fear of recurring medical conditions such as gout, the son is focused on starting his own family, and the daughter cannot wait to be admitted to a college that is away from her boring town. Currently, family members are mostly focused on the on-goings of their own lives. The family’s bond is not as strong as would be expected of a family its size. The family’s other child, Nancy is currently living with her father and mother while waiting to join a college in the near future. Currently, the eldest son Peter lives in the state capital and he has since found work as a chauffeur. The family’s two children were quite close when they were growing up but their bond has since weakened. Her grandparents also lived to be at least 80 years of age and they did not suffer from any chronic health conditions. Her mother suffers from high cholesterol but her father has no reported health issues. Ann’s parents are still alive and they are relatively healthy for their age. According to Sam, they both died of ‘natural causes’.Īnn hails from the same town where she resides today and her ancestors have been living here for a long time. Sam’s grandparents all lived to be over seventy-five years of age even though the grandfather was a habitual smoker.
Before her death, Sam’s mother was a bit overweight. Although Sam’s father required regular medical attention, he was never institutionalized. His father recently died at the age of 89 from what he terms as old age and Alzheimer’s disease. Sam’s mother died from childbirth-related complications when he was 14 years. Sam’s grandparents were farmers in the 1800s. Sam’s parents settled in this small town after migrating from rural Kansas where they had a farm. The family’s primary residence is in a small town that is approximately one hundred miles from the state capital. Nevertheless, the children were raised within the confines of Christianity in all three generations of this family. Both the father and the mother adhere to religion in a strong manner but the children are not staunch Christians. The Sams have always practiced Christianity as a religion although different generations have practiced different denominations. Nevertheless, the family has mixed heritages that include traces of Norwegian, German, Danish, and Swedish backgrounds. The family statistically belongs in the middle-class category and they are Caucasian in origin.