AJ Garcia

My Dad and his children.

My dad's name is AJ Garcia. He hasn't had the easiest life that a normal teenager would have. He moved to the United States when he was 17 years old. I will tell you some things that he has done that makes him my hero.

My dad has never lived a normal life a normal teenager would live. He always looked out for his family and his family would come first to him before anything in the world. His change came when he was 12. His mom was going to have another baby, Miguel, when he was 12. Well, the baby was born at 6 months old. He was about to die but AJ worked for his family so he could keep his brother alive.

He moved up here when my mom was pregnant with me. I asked him, "Why did you choose to come up here in the United States?" he said "To have the opportunity that I could not have in Guatemala and to make money to help my parents pay off their house and help my parents pay off Miguel's doctor bills." Then I asked him "Do you enjoy living here?" he said yes, because it is a country that has a lot of opportunities, freedom and you feel secure here. And then I asked him if there's one thing that you love to do in this world, what would it be? He said to have the money, to help people in need.

He helped his parents pay for the doctor bills and house. I asked him "Who inspires you to be the person you are now?" he said, "The Garcia family, mainly my uncle and dad, because they are an example of coming from eating bread and drinking water for dinner and promised themselves to never give up. Then I asked him, "How old were you when you moved here?" He said, "I was 17 when I moved up here." He helped them because the doctor bills weren't cheap at all. Well, at one point he got super sick and that night my dad's dad prayed to God to take away his life but to let Miguel be healthy and live. Two weeks later his dad's dad passed away. Ever since he passed away, Miguel hasn't had any health problems. I asked him a question after he told me this story I asked him "If there is something you regret that you have done in your life, what would it be?" He said "Not being able to say goodbye and hug my dad when I left before he passed away."

When my grandpa passed away he told my dad to raise Miguel like he was Miguel's dad. A couple of months later my dad decided he wanted us to have a better chance on school work and life up in the United States. We came up here in a airplane a couple months after he passed away. My dad worked super hard to get us where we were from. I asked him, "Who inspires you?" He said, "My family inspires me because it made me want to change and also to be more positive to find the good and the bad." And then I asked him, "Do you ever miss where you came from?" He said, "Yes, I do because I have family down there that I really miss".