Growing up I’ve always maintained good grades, never gotten in trouble (too much that is), and always made sure my family was proud of me. I did this because my family is the most important thing to me. I’m the first person in it to obtain a bachelor’s degree. After IUP, I am going to medical school to become a doctor which is the farthest anybody in my family has ever gotten.
Picture 2: My stepdad and I fishing when I was little.
My memaw died not too long ago it feels like. She was diagnosed with stage four cancer which was in her brain. We knew at that point our lives would be different. When my brother and my family split, we had to go to two houses for every holiday: my mom’s mom and my dad’s mom. Which was fine, but that’s just it. My memaw was always the middleman and now that she’s not here it doesn’t feel right to have holidays without her. Before she died, she made it a fact to tell me she was proud of me. That I was going to college and becoming something great. This hits hard because sometimes I do want to just leave here. College is super hard. Her belief in me and making her proud wills me to keep moving on.
My mom raised me and my brother on nothing. She was a waitress. Yet, she would still give her last penny to our happiness. I remember we would go through the McDonald’s drive-through and she’d pull out two dollars in quarters and tell us we can each get one-dollar menu item. Just to give us McDonald’s because every other kid got it. She never got to finish her college degree because she had us so I WILL finish for her. I will make myself something big so I can give her back 100 times more than she gave me when I was little. She is the most important person to me and there’s nothing I care about more than her seeing me walk across the stage.
My brother and my stepdad had always been my two best guys. Besides my papa but he eats my snacks. My whole family, whether it’s my memaw, mom, mama, papa, brother, stepdad. They are the ones I am doing this for. They are the ones that matter. They are the ones I want to make proud. Every single one of these people is my favorite people in the world and I can’t wait until they see me walk across that stage. Not just at IUP, but the big dog stage at med school.
