Axel Guitierrez - Learning Division

 

 

So I'm 11 years old and that's the last time I saw my dad. I remember the day before he left. We made a barbecue and went to the beach and we had a good time, and then he said he was going to leave. So, I was really sad because my dad meant a lot for me and he was a good dad. Because one day I was having troubles in school because I didn't know how to divide. And then he taught me how to divide and he gave me 10 divisions to do. And I was like, I didn't want to get any of them wrong because I wanted to always make him proud. And at the end of the day, it took like five hours to do the divisions and I got one wrong. And then he said, "Alright, it's the only one wrong. It's cool."

 

And then on Monday, the day he said he was going to leave, and I wanted to see him for the last time because it's my dad and I love him a lot. And I'm coming back from school and I'm like almost running into the house, and I see my stepmother sitting on the couch and I asked her, "Where's my dad?" And then she said, "He left." And I'm confused because I'm asking myself, why he didn't want to say bye to me or anything like that. And then she says, "He said he didn't want to say bye to you because he thinks he's not going to leave because he's going to feel bad about leaving you and your brother and me." And I went to my room and I just started thinking, why he didn't say bye to me.

 

So that weekend my mom went to the house, and then she wanted to pick me up because she said I couldn't trust my stepmother because she's not part of my family or she doesn't love me or whatever. A year after that, my mom leaves too. She comes to the United States, to California. And then I feel alone because she left me with a friend, with a good friend of hers. And I wanted to be with my mom or my dad, either one of them, because they're really special for me. And I used to talk to my dad on the phone because I got his phone number. And then I came over here to live with my mom in New Orleans. And I would still talk to my dad. And one day I called my dad and then we started talking about stuff.

 

And then he tells me-- he comes out with this-- telling me that if 20 years pass and then he doesn't talk to me, or I get mad at him, that he's always going to remember me and that he's always going to love me. A month after that, I was going to start school. It was going to be my first day. And I tell my dad I need money to buy the uniform and some shoes, because I just want to say I have a dad and that he's supporting me. And I was going to buy some shoes, and he started complaining about giving me money. And I got really mad at him. And I hung up the phone on him. And I was really mad at him-- not because he didn't give me the money, but because he didn't want to support me.

 

And all the stuff that he told me about going to school, he was like letting me down when I started making him proud of me. And then four years passed. We never talked again in four years. And I miss him a lot. I don't even know if he's alive or if he's dead, where he lives. And every day I think about him. I think about what has he done and where is he at, or if he's still alive or dead. But I consider myself a lucky guy, because at least I got to meet my dad. And many guys and girls don't even know who their parents are. Thank you.