Imagine living in a country dominated by your race then having to move from that country to an unfamiliar area where you are forced to start over. People begin to look at you strange and you soon wonder if you will ever belong in this new, unfamiliar environment. My father ,Acee Chapman Jr., along with his family made the choice to move to America when he was just a little boy. The move caused several struggles within the family that eventually led to some life changing decisions. These decisions and struggles helped shape my dad into the person he is today and changed his perception on the life he lives. In 1969, Learmond Acee Chapman Jr. was born in the city of Georgetown, Guyana located in South America. He would have two younger brothers
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Life began to look up after Cecil was born. In 1984, Vida Chapman was offered a job as a nurse to the owner of Butch’s Cadillac Dealership. This job helped pay for the monthly expenses the family had. She was a very diligent worker who worked without vacation for two years. Although the job seemed like a wise decision at the time, it became I burden with Vida started working long hours throughout the day. With his mom working sixteen hour shifts a day, Junior had to step up and be the mom of the family in her absence. This was extremely hard due to the fact that Junior was still in high school. The absence put a strain on the family’s relationship that would later lead to frustration. While Acee Jr was struggling to keep his grades up and take care of his younger brothers, his dad was fed up and ready to start over. After nineteen years of marriage Learmond Acee Chapman Sr. decides to abandon his family and start a new life in Arkansas. Along with this life changing choice he informed the church in Guyana ,who had paid for all of his expenses over countless amounts of years, that he would no longer be planning to return to Guyana. Kristin Celello wrote a piece on the success of marriages during the eighties through the nineties. She stated, “instead of divorcing when times get tough, couples are working hard at keeping their unions intact,” (Celello 133). Once again my family is the opposite of the statistics. Most families were not divorcing but instead trying to overcome the problems that were causing the conflict. My grandmother was more than willing to attempt counseling and to hopefully achieve reconciliation but my grandfather was beyond done with his family. Celello also came to the conclusion that, “finding the reward of matrimony is often worth the effort,” (133). Even though my grandfather left my family, he never
Life began to look up after Cecil was born. In 1984, Vida Chapman was offered a job as a nurse to the owner of Butch’s Cadillac Dealership. This job helped pay for the monthly expenses the family had. She was a very diligent worker who worked without vacation for two years. Although the job seemed like a wise decision at the time, it became I burden with Vida started working long hours throughout the day. With his mom working sixteen hour shifts a day, Junior had to step up and be the mom of the family in her absence. This was extremely hard due to the fact that Junior was still in high school. The absence put a strain on the family’s relationship that would later lead to frustration. While Acee Jr was struggling to keep his grades up and take care of his younger brothers, his dad was fed up and ready to start over. After nineteen years of marriage Learmond Acee Chapman Sr. decides to abandon his family and start a new life in Arkansas. Along with this life changing choice he informed the church in Guyana ,who had paid for all of his expenses over countless amounts of years, that he would no longer be planning to return to Guyana. Kristin Celello wrote a piece on the success of marriages during the eighties through the nineties. She stated, “instead of divorcing when times get tough, couples are working hard at keeping their unions intact,” (Celello 133). Once again my family is the opposite of the statistics. Most families were not divorcing but instead trying to overcome the problems that were causing the conflict. My grandmother was more than willing to attempt counseling and to hopefully achieve reconciliation but my grandfather was beyond done with his family. Celello also came to the conclusion that, “finding the reward of matrimony is often worth the effort,” (133). Even though my grandfather left my family, he never