Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it

NAME: Angela Elizabeth O'Roarke

DATE OF BIRTH: 10/1/1978

BIRTHPLACE: Newburgh, NY

RESIDENCE: Dobbs Ferry

FAMILY: Has one daughter, Erica, age 14

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Heterosexual

MARITAL STATUS: Single, never married

EDUCATION: GED; Bachelor's in Journalism from SUNY New Paltz

OCCUPATION: Editor and weekly columnist for the Life & Style section of The Journal News

Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind

• Born at St. Luke's Hospital in Newburgh, NY on October 1, 1978, Angela is the only daughter of Michael and Colleen O'Roarke, who are originally from New York City. Her older brother, Dylan, is 10 years her senior, and they had very little to do with one another growing up, since he was out of the house by the time she turned 8. Being raised essentially as an only child made Angela the focus of all of her parents' attention, and being the only girl made her her mother's hope for the future. The family had money, and early on, Angela was placed in private schools, and she was strongly urged by both her parents to reach for perfection, and achieve it wherever possible.




• During her Junior year in high school, Angela got a boyfriend. He wasn't the usual type of guy that she was interested in. In fact, they were really more like opposites. They began dating without her parents' knowledge and probably would have continued to do so if Angela had not gotten pregnant. However, by the end of her Junior year, she was showing, and by the Fall, 17-year-old Angela was the mother of a little girl named Erica. Her parents didn't believe in abortion, so there was no question she would give birth, and though her father really wanted her to put the baby up for adoption, Angela and her mother felt it would be too difficult to let go, and it was decided that she and her parents would raise the baby together as a family.




• While Erica was still young, Angela finished high school by taking night classes so her mother could be home from work to watch the baby. She also worked a series of part-time jobs, including waitress, bank teller, gas station attendant, teacher's aide, and nursery school classroom assistant. Angela was frustrated by the menial work and downright jealous of her classmates who graduated and went off to college, but she took every job seriously, and took her role as mother more seriously than anything else. She became very possessive of her daughter, and very controlling of everything having to do with her. She kept very close tabs on who was seeing her and when (including Erica's own father, and his parents), and worked hard to ensure that her child would have all the advantages she'd had despite her disadvantageous beginnings.




• When Erica was 5, and Angela was 22, she finally had the opportunity to attend college. Though she wasn't able to afford the prestigious schools that would have been her top choices before her pregnancy, she was able to attend day classes at SUNY New Paltz, depending on school and carefully orchestrated babysitting schedules for Erica's childcare. Getting homework done was often difficult, and Erica often interrupted her during major projects, but even so, in 6 years, Angela finally completed her degree, which was in Journalism.




• Three years ago, after her graduation, Angela applied for jobs all around the Hudson Valley, looking for a newspaper or local TV station that would hire her for an entry level position. She was an unusual applicant in some ways, due to getting her degree later and being nearly 30 instead of 21 or 22, and having an 11 year old at home, but she persevered and was eventually offered a job by The Journal News, the newspaper of the lower Hudson Valley. She now works as an editor for the Life & Style section of the paper and has a weekly column about local restaurants. Despite Erica's protests about moving, Angela moved out of her parents' house, and into her own rented apartment in Dobbs Ferry, where she has lived ever since.




• Though Angela has learned to roll with the punches a little bit in the last 14 years, she is still a very strict mom. Erica isn't allowed to do half of what her friends are, and Angela keeps her on a very short leash when it comes to grades, boyfriends, and going out at night without parental supervision. She has been told that she is over-compensating for her own mistakes, but Angela insists that this is just what a good 21st century parent must do for the safety of her child.




• Angela doesn't have time for hobbies, but in the rare moments of down time that she has, she likes to go to wine tastings, shop for diamond earrings, bake, and roll coins. (The last one is a holdover from her bank teller days, and she swears the mindlessness of it helps her to de-stress while also adding some spending money to her wallet.) Angela also likes soap operas, though she denies it, and shopping with Erica, though she generally hates shopping in the mall otherwise.




• Angela is politically liberal and publicly pro-choice, but for herself, opposes abortion after her own experiences as a young mom. She's very vocal about what she thinks about everything else, though, and will be the first to point out if her daughter is being slighted, or if there is some injustice happening in the world, or right in her own community. She can come across as somewhat of a snob, and can be very abrasive when someone meets her for the first time, but it quickly becomes clear to most people that a lot of her unpleasantness arises from fear. She worries all the time about Erica not getting a fair chance in life, and more than anything, she is terrified that she isn't a good mother.




• Angela is a very practical and level-headed person and though she worries a lot, she always manages to remain calm in a crisis. Erica's friends often come to her for advice on their friendships, boyfriends, parents, and grades, which creates some friction between herself and her daughter. She doesn't often realize, though, what she's actually doing, or why Erica is upset until it's too late. And now that Erica is a teenager, it's becoming more and more difficult for them to see eye to eye.




• After moving out of her mother's house, Angela started to resent some of her mother's advice on parenting Erica. When she was younger, and Erica was just a baby, Angela felt that she really needed the guidance, but now that she is over 30 and living on her own, she wants to have full control over her parenting style, while her mother still thinks she needs help. Since they are a pretty significant car ride from one another now, the physical distance has given Angela the opportunity to pull away from her mother a little bit, which has created some tension between them. Angela keeps in regular contact with her dad and semi-regular contact with Dylan, but lately, she has been calling her mother less and less.




• The only boyfriend Angela has ever had was her daughter's father. Since that ended in disaster, she has basically sworn off having any kind of romance in her life. At times, she secretly longs for it, and it's not that she'd be adamantly opposed to the idea if something did happen with a good man who she felt deserved her, and who would be good with Erica, but she generally sees men as irresponsible and childish, as compared with her intense sense of responsibility. So for now, it's just her and Erica, on their own.




• Angela has always been smart and she has a sharp wit. Toilet humor, knock-knock jokes and puns leave her apathetic, but a well-turned phrase, political cartoons and satire will put her in stitches. Her daughter thinks her jokes are lame, or simply doesn't get them at all, but try as she might, Angela just can't lighten up anymore than she has already.




• Angela has always seen it as her responsibility to prepare home-cooked meals for herself and her daughter. Unfortunately, though no one has ever had the heart to say so, her cooking skills are marginal at best and frequently downright terrible. She dries out meat, burns bread, and overcooks vegetables and pasta. She puts in a lot of effort in the kitchen, but preparing meals is just not one of her talents.




• Though she likes to be outside, Angela's body does not react well to the great outdoors. She has seasonal allergies that flair up badly every May and October, and such fair skin that she can get a pretty bad sunburn on a cloudy day. During the summer months, she can't leave the house without allergy medication and SPF 45 sunscreen, and she rarely visits the beach.




• Overall, though she is stubborn sometimes to the point of making everyone around her crazy, Angela has a good heart and a good head on her shoulders. Everything she does comes from her desire to do the right thing and to protect her daughter from the inevitable fallout of her one big mistake in life. Angela realizes every day the gravity of her teenage carelessness, and the challenges have been very real, but overall, given the hand she was dealt, Angela is pretty satisfied with her life, and she tries not to spend much time looking back on what might have been.