The most challenging obstacle I have had to overcome is growing up without my father being a part of my life.
Before I was born my parents had split up.
After I was born, my father did not want to see me even though my mother had made several attempts. I never received a phone call or a present on my Birthday or Christmas. When I was 17 I successfully contacted my father and flew across to the country to see him. I stayed at the house he shared with his wife and her two children from a previous marriage.
The stay at his house was not easy. Everywhere I looked there were family pictures of the four of them; my father, his wife, her two children. Those two children, who were not even blood related to me but knew my father better than I knew him.
When I was little, I never thought much of why I only had one parent. It was not until elementary school when my classmates started asking me where my father was. I used to tell them he lived in a nearby town and I saw him every weekend.
During my freshman year in college, I asked him if he would be able to contribute to my tuition. He asked me to list every single thing I was paying for, and I did. After that I never heard back from him. And never saw the money.
To tell you the truth, I think about him a lot of the time and wonder what kind of relationship we could have had. On the other hand, I have so many things to be grateful for.
I grew up with incredibly loving grandparents who I stayed with very often. They used to tell me that I was like their own daughter. Sometimes I wonder if I would have had the relationship with my grandparents if I had lived with both of my parents. My mother, being a musician, often had to work evenings so therefore I would end up sleeping at my grandparents, who lived in my neighborhood.
I admire my mother greatly. Not everyone can act as a mother, a father and a friend. But somehow she managed to be all three. She makes me believe that anything is possible if you work for it.
Before I was born my parents had split up.
After I was born, my father did not want to see me even though my mother had made several attempts. I never received a phone call or a present on my Birthday or Christmas. When I was 17 I successfully contacted my father and flew across to the country to see him. I stayed at the house he shared with his wife and her two children from a previous marriage.
The stay at his house was not easy. Everywhere I looked there were family pictures of the four of them; my father, his wife, her two children. Those two children, who were not even blood related to me but knew my father better than I knew him.
When I was little, I never thought much of why I only had one parent. It was not until elementary school when my classmates started asking me where my father was. I used to tell them he lived in a nearby town and I saw him every weekend.
During my freshman year in college, I asked him if he would be able to contribute to my tuition. He asked me to list every single thing I was paying for, and I did. After that I never heard back from him. And never saw the money.
To tell you the truth, I think about him a lot of the time and wonder what kind of relationship we could have had. On the other hand, I have so many things to be grateful for.
I grew up with incredibly loving grandparents who I stayed with very often. They used to tell me that I was like their own daughter. Sometimes I wonder if I would have had the relationship with my grandparents if I had lived with both of my parents. My mother, being a musician, often had to work evenings so therefore I would end up sleeping at my grandparents, who lived in my neighborhood.
I admire my mother greatly. Not everyone can act as a mother, a father and a friend. But somehow she managed to be all three. She makes me believe that anything is possible if you work for it.
