Carlos Anniques Ortega-Lara Analysis

I remember the times when I would sit with my father and ask how his life was before he came to the East Coast. And I could still remember how the story went every time he told me. On June 14, 1961, my father was born. Born and raised in the city of San Martín Sacatepéquez, Guatemala with 4 other siblings, and he was the second oldest child of the bunch. His name was Carlos Enrique Ortega-Lara. As a young man, he explained that he didn’t have much, but he always had stories to tell of himself having a simple life, but a good one. He would tell me stories of how him and his lifelong childhood friend Samuel would go around town causing mischief just for fun. Just enjoying living life as a child. He would explain the experiences of renting bicycles …show more content…
Made him feel appreciative of life. As time went on, things ended up getting more and more difficult. His mother was unfortunate to get diagnosed with breast cancer when he was about 15 years old. It got very difficult around the household because of his mother being sick from cancer, it got even more difficult for his father to support the kids and aid his wife all at once. So my father started working endlessly trying to help the best he could. Working odd jobs as a child for crazy hours of the day to only be broke again because of the expensive medicine for his mother. He lost countless hours of sleep and countless meals just to ensure some stability for his siblings and mother. But it got it to a point where doing that wasn’t enough anymore, so he had to come up with a different plan. He had only only two choices, stay in Guatemala and struggle, or to find new opportunities to support his siblings and mother elsewhere. That was when at around the age of 16, my father came to America to the city of Angels, Los Angeles, …show more content…
I remember the times when we struggled with food and my father came home from work every night with something for us. We would eat and we would always ask “Papa, are you gonna come join us?” He would give us the same answer every time. “Don’t worry about me, worry if you can finish your food.” with a smile on his face. Now, I know that he never did eat. He always made sure that we at least ate. He always put the needs of us before his own. He never ate unless we did first. He never slept unless he knew we were all home and was sleep first. He never bought new clothes unless we had clothes first. That was his character. A man who who was selfless. He made sure the needs of others were met before his own. He maintained that same character his whole life. The last time I saw my father before he died, he told me something that would indefinitely stick with me. He said, “Carlos, I don’t know when I’ll go. There has been many times before today where I should’ve died. So there is no telling when I’ll go now. But I hope that I did every thing I could to ensure each of you guys [his kids] are stable enough to take care of yourselves and each other.” He told me that 4th of July weekend of 2016. I will never forget that because even on his death bed, he still tried to make we were going to be okay. My father was the most selfless man I knew, and will never take for