#HumansOfScottAFB: Mildred “Miss Milly” Peña [Image 21 of 22]

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, IL, UNITED STATES

04.26.2019

Photo by Senior Airman Tara Stetler 

375th Air Mobility Wing

“I’m in Illinois because my sister was like, ‘Hey, we’re looking for a roommate if you wanted to move.’ It’s so quiet here compared to Florida. It’s a big, good difference. I’m a lot more confident in who I am. I feel like I was kind of in a shell in Florida. I was living with my parents, and I’d just graduated high school. People are pressuring you to do one thing, but you want to do another.

Living here is like having too much freedom and not knowing what to do with it. My mom, she’s a typical Dominican mom. She’s like ‘You’ve got to be home at this time, you can’t do this, you can’t do that,’ and then when I moved here, I’d get home at like 3 a.m. and I’m like, ‘Huh, nobody’s nagging me about it.’ But now that I got away from the strictness, I miss the things that I didn’t see. Like my dad coming home and being super loud about it. I never appreciated it before because I never thought it would be something that I’d miss. Now I’m just like, ‘Aww, I miss not being able to hear from my left ear.’ And being in my room on my day off and smelling my mom cooking, I miss it a lot.

I’ve changed a lot. When I was in Florida, I used to hold my personality in a lot because I felt like I had to accommodate to the people around me. I’m more of who I think I am here than in Florida. I push myself more, and I’m like, ‘Ok, let’s try new things.’ It’s going great. I love it.”

- Mildred “Miss Milly” Peña, 375th Force Support Squadron childcare provider

#HumansOfScottAFB is an ongoing photo series featuring the stories of people who work, live, and volunteer at Scott Air Force Base.

• Date Taken: 04.26.2019
• Date Posted: 09.16.2019 16:46
• Photo ID: 5754658
• VIRIN: 190426-F-VX890-1001
• Resolution: 2048x1564
• Size: 228.33 KB
• Location: SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, IL, US