Complete Family

We came home in a cheerful mood and that night I called both sisters on a conference call and told them about all that had transpired these past few months. Veronica was silent for a while before speaking, " Mom has lived a life of struggle all her adult life and I had to learn very early that nobody was going to help us so I had to strife on my own at an age when my peers were playing dress up and talking about boys. I sacrificed my youthful days to drag us from the very bottom of poverty. Even then, it was never quite possible to completely liberate us so I did the most I could to lessen the load and even though I could have been super successful I had to sink all that money back in our little family because I love my family. To know that all I have sacrificed has produced someone who has finally pulled us up to financial independence is the biggest reward I could have ever asked for. Thank you for being a loyal son and brother and making me proud." These words deeply moved me because I was not oblivious to her efforts. Everything I had done since gaining the system was to first establish my family before I started my own journey. At this point, the only one who was of the immediate concern to me was the third born Linda. Linda,sensing how emotional we were, shared some good news, " I have started dating this nice guy who after knowing my family situation gave me a job as his personal assistant at his car dealership." We were genuinely happy and since I had already set up shops for mom and Lydia, they could now pursue their own path without familial obligations. Since I could now see that everyone was now successful and independent, I revealed to them that I would be leaving this coming new year to discover who I really was and to explore since my current job had no location restrictions. Linda was happy for me and and said she would stop by this New Year's. Veronica also agreed to come with her kid to make our family whole this New Year's. We ended up adding my foster dad to the call and after all was said, he praised me and promised to be there for the shop opening. The call ended and I started making plans on what I wanted to do going forward. I thought for a while and decided not to stress too much but rather think of where I wanted to go first. After much deliberation, I decided that I would start my independent life in the City of Angels, Los Angeles in the state of California.

My sister and I spent the remaining days of December running around finding a good school for her son and registered and finished all procedures before Christmas. All this while I was thinking of what to buy as presents. It was easy for my mom since she was already very grown and didn't need much at her age so I bought her a simple but well designed jade bracelet for 5,000 dollars and got a remote controlled toy plane for my nephew. As for Lydia, I wanted to give her something practical and something to help in her day to day life so I finally decided on a car. Frankly it was easy getting the car since Linda could handle all the details and even knew what Lydia's dream car was. The only drawback was putting it in her name but I did it by getting her to sign the title for the car and making her think it was for a project I was putting up. I also got a big bear for my niece, the latest tablet for Linda since she was now a personal assistant and it was practical and finally for Veronica the latest apple phone since she usually did a lot of business on her phone and she didn't really follow the trendy stuff.

Everything was set and since we had moved up in life and I was getting so much, I decided that I might as well buy and set up a christmas tree to make the Christmas atmosphere complete. I had everything wrapped up and set up the tree with my nephew. On Christmas eve, there was a knock on the door and I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door and saw my sisters and niece with wide smiles on their faces. I immediately went to hug them together and let them in whiles carrying their luggages behind them. My mom and sister were cooking in the kitchen and upon hearing all the ruckus and laughter, came out to see who it was. The surprise, shock and joy on their faces was honestly entertaining to watch and it was all laughter and overwhelmingly positive vibes all evening and they decided to stay until the New Year's and opening of the shops. Veronica, Lydia and I went out with the kids to watch them play and left Linda and Mom to settle any bad blood between them. They had a heart to heart talk and Linda poured out all her grievances, " Mom I was being maltreated, beaten and used like a slave and after reaching my breaking point, I run to you thinking that was my safe haven but you turned me away. I was mocked for being a nobody and i run to you not once or twice but thrice and after the third time, all I had for you was hatred. Mom also explained to her how bad things were, " Linda, I had nothing going for me and sometimes went two days without food just to have enough to feed your brother. I saw your pain but i was already past the limit on what I could do and might have starved all of us to death so to turn you away and for every time I did, something died in me."