Not Always Easy

Hi…My life has been full of so many difficult moments and here is one that I would like to share with you. I will be talking about how my life went from down path to high path.  My family and I have struggled so much in life. Being 3 years old and coming to the United States alone was definitely one of the most difficult and risky things you can ever do. Having no money, no family or anyone to rely on is very hard. Not knowing if your parents are protected or just in general if they are going to come back with you with their lives. When all that was over I thought my family and I were finally going to be together and happy, but I was wrong. Money problems started, my parents started having relational problems and I was going through a tough time individually. At the time all that started to happen my dad left back to Mexico and was gone for a while. My mom got into depression and things in the house started to change. I got pushed away and was barely talked to. Then my dad came back and we went back to living together and things went back to normal, or so I thought. 

As a young girl I thought everything in my house was ok until I noticed a change in the little things. There would be more silence in the house, barely any family time and my parents wouldn't speak to each other. I really didn't pay much attention to it, but as the days went by it was more noticeable. So for the happiness of them and mine I tried bringing our family back together with a little joy in me. I started thinking on my own on what I could do to make it all go back to normal, but obviously as a little girl, it's a difficult task. Instead I would just help out in the house with so much energy and try and be a blessing to my family. I didn't know if it was working or not, but I still tried. 

Later on I found out that my dad had begun to drink and I really didn't think of it much. But as the days passed that situation got worse and the same story got old fast. Later on my mom got really tired of it and it became a problem. My dad would drink everyday, 24/7. He started not showing up to work and not paying the bills. Instead he spent the money on drinks. Most of us started pushing him away completely and that’s when my life started changing slowly. He was in and out of my life and would barely even put in any interest into how I was and how I was growing bigger and bigger everyday. He didn’t pay much attention to my school stuff and how I was doing. My mom was left to take care of everything and she kept us going. She struggled a lot because she was a single mother at that time. 

Months went by and then  my dad came back and talked my mom into giving him another chance. My mom agreed. After things were going good and my family was back to some sort of normal. We were ready to make up all that time that was lost. We got a new place to live my parents got a job and our family was back together. As it often happens in my life, the happiness didn’t last for long. In the blink of an eye, it was all gone. My family and I had gotten kicked out of our house , my dad had just gotten out of surgery, and my mom went back to depression. We had lost it all and we didn't have no one to rely on we were really on our own. We spent days living in the park in the coldness with no food, no water, and nothing to be covered up with. Help was asked to people that we thought would help us, but they just pushed us away and made us less. So the day of Christmas my dad  decided to ask his brother for help. This was so humbling to do. My dads brother helped us, but pushed us in a room were we felt less than everyone there that night. We have always been grateful and it was very helpful towards us. That day was really sad for me because I saw how all the other kids got gifts and I didn’t, but inside of me I knew that later in life God would replace all this bad into good. 

A year passed and things got better. All of us worked as a family on the things that needed to be changed and we made a move and decided it was time to take a big step. I had always struggled with depression for the reason that I always saw many families that were happy and I thought to myself , “why can’t mine be like that?” In myself there was always a part of me that saw the good things in the bad. When I would get asked I never got embarrassed because I'm the type to always be grateful for even the little things in life. And till this day I’m grateful for everything that I went through at that time. Over the years that taught me to be grateful for every single little thing. It showed me how not to make people less because I went through the same thing. Now time has passed by and I’ve grown up. Things have obviously changed, but things got so much better and I just got to thank those days because they made me the person I am today. In life you always have to be humble, nice and respectful because without those things in life people won’t give you a hand. I learned that no matter what the situation is that you always have to get up and try 10x more than you did the day before that. Another thing is that I learned to help those in need because I once needed a hand to help me get up. Family is always going to be there no matter what. Things can happen and they will be the first to still be there. At the end I really thank those hard times because out of those days I would still try and make everyday good. Don't ever let problems like that get to you because that can affect you in many ways. Those experiences will help you grow and make a better person. Life really does have many ups and downs, but with your faith and power you can overcome. Now I can finally say that my family is happy together and things are going very well.  I’ve become a much different person, a good one. 

Park West High School Senior

Age 18