Someone or Something I Admire
During my childhood, I was loved by so many people. One
of them was an elderly lady, Milza Amorim Barbosa, for
whom my mother worked as a housekeeper.
My sister Marli started to work while she was a
teenager, so she did not have as much time for me. In spite
of that fact, Miss Barbosa adopted me as her Godson. I was
only five years old when she took me to her house. I stayed
with my family each summer because Miss Barbosa used to
take a vacation. My friends used to tell me that I was a very
lucky boy. Even though I had so much love from both
families, I was and still am sad for not having my real
mother in my life. When Marli got married, I cried a lot;
but she told me that she would take me to live with her,
which quieted me. However, she could not take me with
her. I understood because life does crazy things sometimes,
and I had to settle for seeing Marli and her family.
When I had this dream to come to the U.S., she would
encourage me. I applied to work in the US and very soon, I
had all my papers in order and a job offer. Sadly, Marli got
sick from breast cancer. I felt so bad, but she told me not to
worry about her and to follow my dreams. Moreover, her
doctors spoke to us and said that we had to live our lives
normally. That was the only way we could help her.
When I first came to the US, I called her every week.
Eight months later, she got really sick; but I called her and
she said that she was getting better. That was a lie--she did
not want to see me worried. She died, but before she died,
she made my family promise not to tell me while she was
not buried in the grave. When they finally told me, she was
already in the grave and I realized that I had now lost two
mommies. I miss Marli, my sister, and my mother so much.
She was my hero.
Edson Sousa is currently an Academic Skills student at Brewster
Technical Center in Tampa, FL.