“He never told me much about his childhood. I knew that his parents were alcoholics, and he left home at a young age. He arrived in America with only $20 in his pocket. He started as a dishwasher at Little Caesar’s. Then worked as a server at Denny’s. But by the time I was born he was driving a taxi. I have no memories of him being with my mother. They divorced when I was two years old, and immediately she had a baby with another man. She wasn’t able to care for a child at the time. So my father stepped in and adopted the boy as his own. That’s how it’s been for as long as I can remember: me, my dad, and my brother. We knew that Dad wasn’t my brother’s biological father. But it wasn’t something we spoke about, or even thought about. He treated both of us the same, which was strict. He made sure we finished our homework the moment we came home. And if we didn’t, he had no problem taking away the PlayStation. But he spoiled us too. We never had much money. The three of us shared a single bedroom growing up. But all my classmates thought I was rich. Dad would sometimes pick us up early to take us on trips to Disneyland. We had all the latest video games and DVD’s. And I was the first kid in my school to get a cell phone, mainly because he wanted a way to check up on me. Right now I live 2,400 miles away, but Dad still sends me texts every day. He tells me ‘Good morning.’ And always says ‘Goodnight.’ He sends me care packages with my favorite potato chips, that you can only get in California. He’s actually way more affectionate than me and my brother. He gets his feelings hurt if we don’t call him back right away. And he’s always saying that we don’t give him enough hugs. I think it comes from his childhood. Recently he told us the reason for adopting my brother. He said that when he was a young boy, his parents also moved away. So he knows how it feels to be left behind. We just want to take this chance to thank him for everything he’s done for us. And to acknowledge how hard the road has been. And to honor the sacrifice he’s made. We also want to celebrate my brother’s adoption. Because on June 18th of last year, they finally made it official.”
gracieabrams
vaporwave
stormborns
turnnoffyourmind
