Under the Wings of Family

Joyce Oh 5/11/2017

Prompt A - Apply Texas                         Grade: 94%

Under the Wings of Family        

Since day one, I had no siblings, just my dad, mom, and myself. I was raised in the environment where there were not many Asian kids. Life was good for me because I didn’t have to worry about having any siblings at all. But sometimes, I was pretty isolated since I had no one to talk to. At least I had my parents because they are always there for me. I believe being an only child helps me to visualize what the world really is like since later on, I’m going to have to be by myself and be independent. Living in the same house as my parents has taught me two different lifestyles: perseverance and passion.

        My mom has been a positive impact in my life. She has gone through a lot and has overcome through suffering. It feels good knowing that I’m the person she can open up to every day. She has taught me to be strong and always be courteous to other people. I never thought I would learn so much from a person who suffered a lot in the past. But, as soon as I moved to a new state, things started to fall apart. When I was in 8th grade, she didn’t have the strength and ability to cook food for the family, or even carry heavy objects because she had cancer. It was so difficult to handle everything since my dad was in charge of working at his company all day and taking my mom to the hospital often. Now, her cancer has been cured after all of the fightings and praying she had gone through for the past couple years. She exercised a lot in the mountains every week with a humble heart. She has taught me to have perseverance and have belief because anything can be possible once you achieve greatness.

        Since I was little, I wasn’t really bonding with my dad. But as I started to talk to him nowadays during the teenage years, I started to have a good relationship since we were agreeing with each other. My dad has taught me to have passion and love what you do in anything you try to pursue. He always tells me to reach higher, even if I have achieved something in the past. He is my motivation in school and cares about shaping me into the best woman I can be by teaching me manners and telling me his childhood experiences and that made him successful. He told me that leadership is essential in my life because it defines your personality, and especially him being student council president at his high school in Korea makes me so proud of his school career. For him, making all A’s in his classes was such a huge priority because he wanted to go to America to get a better education and to learn English. He’s the one who is my sword and shield and takes care of me whenever he is at home. He is such a great role model and caring person I could ask for, and I’m lucky to have him as a hardworking father.