When I was three years old, my mother left us both behind. My father did not view raising me as a single parent as an obstacle, but rather, a path that was destine. In fact, he said, "God was preparing me for this all along." The hand movements he used to make baskets out of palm tree leaves in the Dominican Republic were now used to braid my curly hair. He fed me his arroz con habichuela and...

I am now a sophmore that will be leaving college without...