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My Mom was pregnant with my older brother when she was almost 17 years old, had him at 17 years old almost turning 18, about two years after my brother was born my mom got pregnant again with me :) , she had turned 20 and about five months later I was born...

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My name is Melanie Reyes and I was born on May 10, 2005. It was a pretty special day for my mom not only because I was born but because it was mothers day. She did not have much people that she can trust or rely on or help her besides my grandparents which were her mom and dad. My mom has one older sister( my aunt) but she had moved away to a different state so she was not really ever around and she had a younger brother( my uncle) and a younger sister ( my aunt) , that were  in elementary and in middle school at the time so they where to young to understand. to help my mom with my brother and I...

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father not being present during the beginning

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father not being present during the beginning

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Since the day My brother was born and even when I was born , My father never was really around. he would come when he wanted to and he would help my mom every now and then also when he wanted to. they were young only teenagers entering the adult life, and I know that it was hard for them to raise two kids at such a young age but it was never really like that for my dad. My dad was the type to hangout with the wrong people, and he was in a gang which influenced him to do many wrong choices during his teenage years that later on would hurt him and little did he know would also hurt me and my brother  ..My dad , just like my mom had the choice to be responsible and change the things he would do and who he was hanging out with to raise his two kids with my mom and grow up to be a amazing dad he never was but unfortunately he choice otherwise...

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My mom stayed with us through everything, she even gave up things she loved and enjoyed doing such as playing soccer and hanging out with her friends a lot just to take care of us. My Mom had always been strong and independent and there is no other person I know that is as strong as her. My mom always made sure that me and my brother had food on the table every single day. She would work multiple jobs so that she can give us everything and anything possible, my grandma (her mom) was our baby sitter so my mom knew we were safe while she was at work. She was a single mother of two and was always mine and my brothers mother and father figure, she is and will always be a role model to us . she has taught us to never give up even when life is the hardest and that nothing is impossible. While me and my brother were in elementary, we felt sad to see my mom struggle. She really would do anything possible just so we can never feel bad about not having something but to see her work really hard to raise us all on her own was really tough...

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It was really hard without my dad, I do not think he ever realized of how bad it deeply hurt me and my brother not having him around.  Growing up around when I was a toddler, I did not know much. I did not see my dad hardly ever but I was to young to even think or him permanently leaving both mine and my brother's life as well as my mom's. as I grew up I was told the reason in which my dad was never around or living with us was because he was in prison . Even though at the age of 5 when I was told that, I did not really understand quite yet what that place was or why he was there. About a year after finding that out, my grandma( my fathers mom) would take both me and my brother to visit him. I had just turned 6 when I first went to visit him and all I can remember was hurting deeply. Not only did it hurt seeing him for the first time after so many years but it hurt a lot just seeing him through glass wall not being able to give him a hug or anything ...

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We continued to visit him until I was about 7 years old. My brother and I got the news that he was being released from prison, or so we though it was good news. I was happy to think that I was going to see him in person and to be able to talk to him and go places and hug him even but we were not told the rest of what was going to happen after he got released. He got released and my grandma ( his mom) told us that he was getting deported . Me and my brother both did not know much of what deported meant but we knew we would probably never see him again until maybe one day when we become adults. after my father got deported it felt like my life when kind of down hill, I never really had him in my life but the thought that I could not even visit him anymore really hurt. A couple months later my mother explained in details why my dad had ended up in such a horrible place that later one had caused him to get deported. It was a devastating thing to hear but we took it day by day to recover from the pain that we were feeling.

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Since elementary it was always hard for me to talk about my dad. It was always hard on fathers day since elementary because my teachers would always want to make something special like a card to our dads wishing them a happy father day but it was the worst day for me because I never really knew what to put on my card, and it hurt because I knew I was just going to throw that card away. Seeing my friends have great bonds would also hurt because I wanted to have that with my dad. Although it hurt not having him around, when I was 8 years old my mom found someone special and took not only her but also me and my brother and treated us like his own. My stepdad helped us a lot, even though my mom was always amazing and was raising us well, my stepdad helped a lot. He helped her with me and my brother as well as helping her go back to college to finish her school to be able to get a good career. a couple years later my little sister was born and then two years after that my little brother and lastly about 4 years after , my baby brother was born. Till this day its hard thinking about my biological father and it makes me feel sad but I truly feel like everything happens for a reason and feel blessed to have the family I have to this day.