This post is sponsored by Phillips 66. Thank you for always being so supportive!
I found this photograph of my mom and dad today. This photo makes me so happy, and they look so beautiful and handsome!
My mom and dad had such different upbringings from one another. My mom was the oldest daughter of the wealthiest businessman in the city, who was also very generous and adopted and raised family members and sent them to college. My mom tells me that growing up, her parents were always feeding and housing people—even strangers—and they were the only house that had a television, so the whole neighborhood would gather together to watch television when there was a big show on. She had her own seamstress and a designer who handmade all her clothes. You could say she grew up as a princess.
My dad is the youngest son of 5 boys, the son of a very successful businessman. When my dad was about 11 years old, his father’s best friend tricked his father into investing all his money in a new business and then ran away with all his money, never to be seen again, and leaving the family dirt poor. My dad tells me that for many, many years, his lunch was simply 2 hard-boiled eggs that he’d take to school, and that he was hungry all day during school. To this day, he’s not a fan of hard-boiled eggs because he got so sick of them.
My dad had a dream to come to America, to see for himself why America is the most powerful country. So after working and saving just enough money to pay for a one-way ticket to America, one semester of tuition at a university and one month of rent, he came to America. He was married to my mom by then, and they ventured out together to a country so foreign to them. My mom, who grew up as a princess, worked as a janitor for a gas station along with my dad early every morning to survive. They didn’t own a car or a television; their only possessions were a radio and one bike. So early in the morning every day, my dad would sit on the bike seat with my mom sitting in front of him on the metal part of the bike to ride to the gas station so they could clean the bathrooms. I can only imagine how hard of a transition this must have been for my mom, who not only was newly married, but also had moved to a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language and was experiencing culture shock. As a janitor of a gas station, owning nothing but a radio and a bike, she was living a completely different lifestyle than she was used to.
My parents worked hard and had 5 kids, and I can’t speak for myself but my other 4 siblings are amazing people who are doing great things in their lives. We had a wonderful childhood with the most wonderful, loving, respectful parents, and I am so proud of what my parents have achieved.
Growing up with 4 other siblings, it always seemed like it was so busy and chaotic in the house. But now that we are all older and have dispersed all throughout the world, it hardly seems like many anymore!
The only times our family of 7 gets together is during Christmastime now, and the last time we were able to all get together was for my dad’s 70th birthday party in January. Some flew to get to Utah, and some drove in their minivans full of kids to get here. The only vacations my family took growing up were camping at various national parks and always road tripping there, since camping and a road trip were the cheapest way to vacation.
We’ve put gas in our old station wagon at Phillips 66 numerous times, fueling our car to get to one of the national parks we were heading to. I have so many fond memories of our road trips and camping, one of my most treasured family times.
My parents accomplished many things in their lives and I could list them all here, but the biggest accomplishment they’ve ever done is that they are the most honest, kind, pure-hearted, giving people I know. They are the most trusting, innocent people I know; they have the heart and the innocence of a child. I look up to them, and I am so, so proud to say they’re my mom and dad. I aspire to be like them every day. I love you so much, Mom and Dad. You two are truly my heroes.
Proud to be here.
ice pandora says
What a touching family background story!
Your father is such a hardworker really!
The family portrait is beautiful c: xx
http://icepandora.blogspot.com
Andrea says
What a amazing story! thank you for sharing. To have such parents and siblings is treasure from heaven.
Much love and happiness to you all. Andrea from Czech republic
kara says
I love the respect you have for your parents and the appreciation you have for all they have given you (the least being material possessions). God bless!
Kara