 "Photo: Ruben Castillo")
Being introduced to motherhood at a young age taught Bobbie Huston the meaning of sacrifice.
Huston gave birth to her daughter, Zoey Huston, at age 18; scared of her new job of looking out for another life besides her own. However, she did not use Zoey as an excuse to forgo a higher education and quickly learned sacrifices had to be made to prevent her relationship with her daughter from suffering.
“Last semester I had 12 hours of school, then worked at the police station,” said the senior exercise and sport sciences major. “But I never saw my daughter. It got to the point where she was depending on my parents more than me, and I was just like, I can’t do this.”
Living on her own with Zoey was expensive and difficult for the full-time student. The two lived in Lynnwood Townhomes without a roommate, increasing Huston’s financial burden.
“It’s different when you have a kid,” the Lubbock native said. “You can’t just have any roommate. You have to worry about whether they have a boyfriend and if they fight, they smoke, or party a lot, if they are loud, and (so on).”
Through her heavy workload, homework and absence in her daughter’s life, she came to understand a change had to be made.
“I had to swallow my pride and move in with my parents,” she said. “That was about two months ago.”
Since then, Huston’s situation already has improved.
“Things are a lot better now,” she said. “Last semester, I would be at school from 8 a.m. to 1:50 p.m. and then work from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. I never really saw Zoey, and when I did, she was asleep. The only thing I did was get her up and take her to school.
“Now, it’s different. Tuesdays and Thursdays are my only late days, and every other day I pick her up from school.”
Aside from taking Zoey to and from school, a 5-year-old adds many other factors to the equation.
“If she is sick and calls from school, of course I go get her,” Huston said. “It sucks, because we are only allowed a certain number of absences in class, but I just have to hope teachers will understand.”
Babysitting is something else Huston must worry about. Placing her child in the care of someone she does not know and is not comfortable with is not a decision she is willing to make, and instead relies on her parents to watch Zoey when she cannot.
Despite the challenges parenting brings, Huston would not change a thing about her sometimes-hectic life.
“I tell my parents, ‘God makes everything happen for a reason,’” she said with a smile. “I just love her, and she is really loving (in return). If she is playing outside with her friends, she will run to the house just for a second to say, ‘I love you, Mommy,’ give me a kiss and run off again.”
Before Zoey was born, Huston said she would go to parties with her friends most weekends, a practice which continued into the early days of Zoey’s life.
“I used to be a social butterfly,” she said. “I would go out all the time with my friends, and now its totally different because I actually have someone I have to finish school for. It’s not just me anymore.”
Terri Hotaling, Huston’s mother, said she has noticed how Zoey indirectly made her partying habits virtually disappear.
“She didn’t go for an education in high school, she went to socialize,” Hotaling said. “And now, you can tell it’s more for an education. She realized she’s going to have to take care of Zoey and not just herself.”
Many teenagers with children do not pursue a higher education once they enter parenthood, Hotaling said, and she is proud of her daughter for taking action.
“I just think that nowadays there’s more younger women having babies, and unfortunately most of them are not seeking a higher education because it is so difficult,” Hotaling said. “But they don’t realize, there’s an advantage of it because they qualify for financial assistance. In that case, it’s much easier for them to do it, but it’s harder to do your homework and do the social activities.”
Emily Gilchrist, a junior exercise and sport sciences major from Houston, said although she has only known Huston for about a year, she has seen Zoey change her and is consistently impressed by Huston’s ability to successfully juggle multiple responsibilities.
“It must be really hard,” she said. “I couldn’t even imagine having to balance school and a child, and plus she is so young and wanting to do things she would normally do otherwise. But you can just tell she truly does want to be with her daughter and be around as she grows up.”
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