Hello everyone I would like to start off by giving you all a little update about me and where I am at this point in my life. It has been a little over two years since my last post and a lot has happened in this short time. I am 22 years old now and have one more beautiful baby girl that arrived early in 2015. I am now officially married to the love of my life, and am employed by the county in which I reside. As I write this in the midnight hour I know that I have been very blessed to be where I am today. I have been able to take my family on a few vacations, been able to purchase a new car, and have had the opportunity to network and meet new people from all over.
In recent days I have been thinking about how far I have come since high school. For example, My wife loves to ask me about my mindset back in my teenage years and how I figured my life would be after high school and college. Not like this. I imagined I would have graduated high school, went to college, and bought a home, all before settling down and raising a family. In reality, I have been blazing my own trail through life and it sure has been a blast. There's been bumps in the road and obstacles to overcome but I have been able to push through them and make learning experiences out of them. This life so far couldn't be more different than what I imagined for myself back in high school.
I never graduated high school. Instead, I dropped out and received a GED after finding out I was about to have a baby. I guess you can say that the youthful mentality contributed to this. I figured dropping out and getting the GED would allow me to apply for a coveted city or county job with those super benefits for my new baby. Little did I know that government jobs take a really long time to get into (The county job I have now took me two years to get into). I also pushed college off for the longest time before realizing that I need a degree in order to get where I want to be. I have been attending college now and have a goal of becoming a probation officer for the county I work for. I currently hold a non-sworn civilian position in the probation department. This was truly a blessing and no doubt in my mind that it was the work of God.
I am now a father of two toddlers and a husband. We live with my mother-in-law because it's ridiculously expensive in our region of the USA. I have watched my high school class graduate from universities with bachelor's degrees this past June, and I think to myself "Wow, I truly am blessed" I don't have to start 2016/2017 from square one when it comes to looking for a job. I have been able overcome the doubters and beat the "statistics". I have a great family, a great career, car, and a roof over our heads.
Though I pictured my life completely different back then, I would not change it for a second, My journey continues and I know there will be hard times that come but there are sure to be great times ahead as well. I will continue working hard because hard work truly pays off and it's evident when somebody looks at how far I have come in such a short time.
If you are a young parent or about to be a young parent, I know you may feel like for world is rapidly changing and you feel like you are stuck in a situation where you may not be able to support your child, just know that you can do this. Work hard and take it day by day. This life will not be easy and you will feel like breaking down (I have done this plenty of times) but don't give up, hard work really does pay off. Your child is your motivation and you will succeed. You may not have pictured your life this way, but it is about to get a thousand times better than you could have ever imagined. You will have a love for your children that you never had for anybody before and that in itself is truly an amazing feeling. You are not alone.
You can do this.
