My name is John Harper, and I am working full time in construction as a carpenter. I work five 12-hour shifts a week. This summer, after supporting myself financially the last 6 years since I left home, I am starting college for the first time to chase my childhood dream of being an airline pilot. I remember the night that those dreams and desires were snuffed out. On May 4, 2014, my mother was away for a well-deserved girls trip. Me and my dad stayed home and were taking my little sister, who has cerebral palsy, to church. We were at church for an hour, and when we came home, I noticed my dad's leg was purple. I asked him to go to the doctor. He refused, and being in pain, he yelled at me for suggesting he was weak in anyway. I took the home phone and called a close family friend to come take him to the hospital without my dad's permission. When they took my dad away to the hospital, he was upset. His yelling at me, "I don't need your help," was the last time I ever saw him. He passed away from a blood clot that formed in his left leg that was paralyzed from an unsuccessful brain tumor removal surgery a year before. It traveled to his heart rapidly during a seizure. 

My mom was a few hours away, my little sister had no idea what was happening, and I sobbed all alone in our stairwell as I realized my life had a new reality. I was, from that moment on, the man of the house with a widowed mother with no hopes to ever retire and a disabled sister who will never be able to provide for herself. My dad didn't have life insurance, and I wonder often what things could have been like if he had. I always envied the kids that went to college while I worked in the dirt with a shovel to send money home and to learn how to fix things for my mom so she wouldn't have to pay a handyman. If my father did have life insurance, it could have helped to pay for our home, pay off our cars, and provide my mother with some security. Unfortunately, she's had to work two jobs for the last ten years and still makes barely above the minimum wage. 

As I start this new journey, I know I'll be making some sacrifices to go to school and still work full time. I know it's something that will pay off. When I get that job as an airline pilot and I can finally call home and say to my mother that it's time to retire, I know all the tears, all the stress, and all the pain will have been worth it. When my dad died, I was left to fend for myself in life. When I graduate and someday marry, I know my children will never have to go through what I went through. I will make the choices and sacrifices now and take precautions for my future and for when 'life happens'.