Picture This--Adalynn

Picture this. A man who came home from work tired and unaware of just how terrible things have gotten. He would wake up every day and think about what he could have been able to accomplish in his life. There is nothing inept about him, he is a knowledgeable man, but he didn’t live up to the potential and capability he had. He had regretted that decision, but nevertheless, he still made it. He would tell stories of times when he was a boy, getting in fights and coming to the realization that although his mother and stepfather loved him and provided for him there was something missing. As he grew older and time had passed he never was disciplined enough to try in school, so he didn’t. He made the decision, at eighteen, to join the Navy, but soon after he had a family. At twenty-one, his first daughter was born and that day he knew that another life had depended on him, so he focused on providing for her and her mother. Soon enough two more girls were born. Both innocent. Both beautiful. Now three children had relied on him to be their father, but his wife hadn’t made things any easier. With a three-year-old daughter and newborn twins, he still managed to work. These three girls grew up moving every year or two, from school to school. Then, after five years, another child was on the way, this time it was a baby boy. Now picture being this man and having your wife leave with the children. Month by month goes by and you paid child support time and time again unaware that your “wife” had used a substantial amount of that money, your money, to support her addiction. Instead of using the money to have a roof over your children’s head they just lived in motel after motel, essentially being homeless. On top of that, their mother would leave and while being married to you would cheat repeatedly. This was how the man lived his life, as if the whole world was against him and his happiness.
At this point, he decided to save the most valuable things in his life, his children. He gained full custody, but his toxic ‘love’ with his ex-wife overtook him and they were together once more. This time they moved to Texas, leaving the only place his children had ever lived, California. In Texas, his eldest daughter was in sixth grade, blissfully oblivious of his terrible situation till the following year. Now a year later, with his wife incarcerated, he moved back to California with his children. The man and his children, this time, went to Northern California to live with his mom. His eldest daughter helped her dad with whatever she could, but he had tried

to hide his pain with jokes and laughter, ignorant of the fact that his first daughter could see his agony. Unfortunately, things got worse for him because about seven months after they had moved in with his mom, she passed and he was defeated, unemployed, and lonely. His son, the youngest, at four years old, didn’t know what it felt like to spend time with his ‘nana’ and sadly, couldn’t even remember what his own mother was like. The twin girls, however, had felt the loss as their father did too. Now, fast forward five years later, and this man has maintained a relationship with a brilliant, caring, and strong woman, like him in that way, for about four years. This woman took them all in and supported the family with all she could. Life had never been so good for them. Although he is doing well, he will never be able to change the fact that the promise he had for his life is gone. Now his next goal, since he can’t fulfill his untapped potential, is for his children to fulfill theirs. So, as he grows old he can live vicariously through their lives and understand that he did everything he could.
This strong, intelligent, and hilarious man is my father and although this isn’t a story about a certain event that happened to me, this man raised me. His life has taught me an abundant amount of things: discipline, dedication, hard work, strength, personal growth, and above all providing and protecting the ones you love even when you are breaking inside. These qualities are that of a hero. So, yes, as his eldest daughter his life has inspired me to be the kind of hero he is. I have learned from him every day of my life and I will aspire to be the kind of person he transformed and matured himself to be for as long as I can.