It seems to me that 6 years have passed
since I have lived with my uncle and aunt, but I think that I have told you all
too much about that already. What I would like to write about right now is of
the fact at how one simple event had changed my family’s life, and again, it
does not have anything to do with the fact that I had suddenly lived with my
uncle…
You see, my first cousin has been
struggling with the things he had faced throughout most of his life; Whenever
something upsets him, he would go into a complete outburst, and yes, he would
curse a whole lot. Like myself, he had been struggling with the fact that he
had been trying to make enough money so that he would live on his own; Of
course, during my first year with my uncle and aunt, he had been studying in
some college in Virginia, but then one day, he did something quite wrong that
would change the family’s lives forever, especially my own…
You see, in the summer of 2012, he
did something in which I myself would wish that he would not ever had done to
begin with: He impregnated a young woman that I think he had been dating. Now,
I know it should not be any of my business, but I had heard a bit of a
conversation that my uncle had with his son, who again is my first cousin. He
told him that as a result of this mistake that he made of impregnating a girl, he
had hurt his family, especially the fact that he had upset his mother, who
happens to be my aunt. You know, somebody once said that a baby changes
everything, and I for one know for very well sure that, at the time, the baby
that was going to be arriving would surely change everything in the household.
Now, I am
not very sure if this has been caused by the news that my first cousin had impregnated
that girl, but I think that somehow before or after that event, my uncle had a
heart attack; Somehow, somewhere, a person such as myself has got to feel sorry
for my uncle…I know in my heart of hearts that he had been trying for years to
take care of his sons, and to not ever let them fall in any deep, dark trap
that they might find. But unfortunately, that news of that impregnating had
come as an ultimate shock to the system to him. But I cannot say that I blame
him for having failed in taking care of as well as looking after his son; I
think that I know that he has done all of the very best that he ever could in
raising his sons, my first and second cousins, so he did not do anything wrong.
None of this is his own fault.
But in spite of this, my first
cousin has now become one of the millions of Americans, I think, who have
suddenly become single parents because either they have impregnated someone or
have become pregnant themselves and giving birth to children out of wedlock.
Somewhere in my mind, I think that my first cousin had known that what he had
done was just plain wrong, and that he wished that he had done things a lot
differently, so that none of us in the family would not ever have to go through
this same kind of situation.
As for myself, I began to have this
feeling of not being sure if I would feel comfortable being around a child who
has been born out of wedlock, because I know that once babies are born out of
wedlock, then they would soon grow up and then drop out of school and then
would commit crimes. I have been having this kind of feeling for a few years,
and I thought that I would get that off my chest by writing to you about it. Maybe
I think that my first cousin is having that same fear as my uncle had that his
own son would go down the same troubled road as he had, so maybe, since he made
that mistake of impregnating his now-former girlfriend all of those years ago, then
maybe he could learn to live from that mistake, and then teach his son how to
live his life in the right way as very soon as possible.
If my first cousin teaches his son, whom
he shares custody with his former girlfriend, all of the right ways of living,
as well as the usual ABCs and 123s and every history lesson and math skills
that one could ever provide for him, then I am hoping and praying that he would
grow up in the right way, and not like his father. And I also hope that that
day would come very soon when my first cousin would have enough money to
FINALLY move out of his parent’s (my aunt & uncle’s) home and into a good,
suitable apartment. And I myself am hoping to have enough money to move out of
my uncle and aunt’s house so that they could retire, and that I can FINALLY
live in that one-bedroom apartment that I have been dreaming of living in for a
few years since I have lived with them. I hope that day comes soon.