2001 / Miami International Airport:
"Mommy, can I please go to the bathroom?" I'm three years old and this is my earliest memory with my mom. She lives here in Miami, and my dad and I have to make a connection here on the way to Honduras. He's meeting a woman he met online there--she has a daughter close to my age I can't wait to meet. Yet, at the moment all I care about is going to the restroom--finally my mom gives into my requests.
15 minutes later:
My dad is holding me and talking to a police officer. I'm confused, why does my mom look so upset? I don't know it now, but in a few years I will realize my dad thought she had kidnapped me. It has yet to hit me they don't get along.
2006 / First day of third grade:
My now step-sister and …show more content…
As they walk out the door, I don't understand they are not coming back.
2009 / Tegucigalpa, Honduras
I am eleven-years-old and standing on the edge of our balcony five stories up. I live in the middle of a city with a million people, but I have never felt so alone. I always loved my dad, but he was never around. Now I know he doesn't know how to communicate without screaming at me. Now I know he will use physical force against my brother if he's angry. I don't have anyone to talk to, and I don't see a way out. I want to step forward, but instead I step back and return to bed.
2010 / Tegucigalpa, Honduras
The same step-mom and step-sister are back in my life. My dad is nicer, and I finally have someone I can talk to. I'm not so lonely anymore--I have a friend at last.
A few months …show more content…
My step-mom and sister have left. This time, I know they are not coming back.
2013 / Raleigh-Durham International Airport:
I'm a freshman in high school now everything is going well. My brother and I moved back to the US two years ago, but my dad is still a missionary in Honduras. Tonight he's coming home, and I could not be more excited. I'm practically bouncing in my seat by the time we pull up to pick him up. Now I see him holding something—no, someone. "This is your little sister, Sarah," he says as he shows me the 3-month-old baby in his arms. He tells me he is married to Kaelyn now, a 24-year-old woman with two children my brother and I know only vaguely.
2015 / My house
I am writing college essays. My dad just told me I'm on my own when it comes to paying for college. He says it's just too bad if I can't—all my fault for choosing a job over more extracurricular activities and time to do schoolwork. He forgets that I have been paying for everything for myself ever since I turned sixteen. He says it's none of my business that he's supporting his new family of four back in Honduras. It turned into a fight, but now I've accepted it. I have already risen above the paths my older siblings have taken. I've done a lot on my own. I can do this on my own. I know I can succeed. I know I will
"Mommy, can I please go to the bathroom?" I'm three years old and this is my earliest memory with my mom. She lives here in Miami, and my dad and I have to make a connection here on the way to Honduras. He's meeting a woman he met online there--she has a daughter close to my age I can't wait to meet. Yet, at the moment all I care about is going to the restroom--finally my mom gives into my requests.
15 minutes later:
My dad is holding me and talking to a police officer. I'm confused, why does my mom look so upset? I don't know it now, but in a few years I will realize my dad thought she had kidnapped me. It has yet to hit me they don't get along.
2006 / First day of third grade:
My now step-sister and …show more content…
As they walk out the door, I don't understand they are not coming back.
2009 / Tegucigalpa, Honduras
I am eleven-years-old and standing on the edge of our balcony five stories up. I live in the middle of a city with a million people, but I have never felt so alone. I always loved my dad, but he was never around. Now I know he doesn't know how to communicate without screaming at me. Now I know he will use physical force against my brother if he's angry. I don't have anyone to talk to, and I don't see a way out. I want to step forward, but instead I step back and return to bed.
2010 / Tegucigalpa, Honduras
The same step-mom and step-sister are back in my life. My dad is nicer, and I finally have someone I can talk to. I'm not so lonely anymore--I have a friend at last.
A few months …show more content…
My step-mom and sister have left. This time, I know they are not coming back.
2013 / Raleigh-Durham International Airport:
I'm a freshman in high school now everything is going well. My brother and I moved back to the US two years ago, but my dad is still a missionary in Honduras. Tonight he's coming home, and I could not be more excited. I'm practically bouncing in my seat by the time we pull up to pick him up. Now I see him holding something—no, someone. "This is your little sister, Sarah," he says as he shows me the 3-month-old baby in his arms. He tells me he is married to Kaelyn now, a 24-year-old woman with two children my brother and I know only vaguely.
2015 / My house
I am writing college essays. My dad just told me I'm on my own when it comes to paying for college. He says it's just too bad if I can't—all my fault for choosing a job over more extracurricular activities and time to do schoolwork. He forgets that I have been paying for everything for myself ever since I turned sixteen. He says it's none of my business that he's supporting his new family of four back in Honduras. It turned into a fight, but now I've accepted it. I have already risen above the paths my older siblings have taken. I've done a lot on my own. I can do this on my own. I know I can succeed. I know I will