this story got me ...so i decided to share it here.....You too can have your own success story
It all started at the age of 6 when my father walked out on us leaving me here with my 2 younger brothers and my mom who was forced to work two jobs while she left me home alone to take care of my brothers. I was forced at a young age to grow up and act like an adult. I didn’t have any friends cause I was always having to help out around the house with cooking and cleaning and raising my brothers.
When I was 11 my mom got a DWI and lost her car, license and jobs and was forced to receive help from the county with food and rent but it just wasn’t enough to get us by so I started stealing clothes from department stores cause we couldn’t fit any of our old cloths. One day I was spotted by this man and he said he had a better way for me to make money but I had to be careful.
It started out with me just making some deliveries on my bike to his customers homes. Then one day that all came to an end cause he just disappeared and I still hadn’t given him all the money from the last time we met. At that point I was forced to find someone else to purchase a small supply to keep making those deliveries. I noticed that I was making more money and was able to help out my mom so much more to the point that she didn’t have to worry about money any more.
Now I’m 13 and I was fully supporting my mom and my 9 and 10 year old brothers. I felt really good about what I was doing and didn’t want for them to ever have to worry so I branched out and started hanging out in the streets to make even more money selling it on the corner. I was doing good for a long time and had so many nice things. School wasn’t a priority so I chose to drop out. Back then, no one really cared.
When I was 16, a couple guys robbed me and raped me in an alley and left me for dead. I just laid there crying in pain until this homeless man found me and took me to the hospital. He stayed there with me that night and came back the next day to check up on me. I asked him why he was living on the streets and he told me that he had suffered from PTSD from being drafted in the war and had problems remembering things, especially from his past. He said the streets was all he had.
I then left the hospital the very next day and he wasn’t around for me to thank him. I felt bad that I never thanked him before but I would never forget what he had done for me. So I went home and decided to stop selling drugs and decided to salvage what money I had left and put it away. I then got a job working at the local record store where I was able to meet a lot of interesting people cause the owner also had a music studio in the basement where he would record local talents.
One day when I was 19, I was walking with my mom and my 16 and 15 year old brothers who were both honor roll students in school. We were walking down that same alley that I was raped in 3 years ago cause we were running behind and needed to take a shortcut. I immediately stopped as they began to enter that alley and my mom was confused why I stopped cause I had never told her what had happened to me. But something just told me to be strong and just make it through it so I did. As we made it halfway into the alley, my youngest brother saw a homeless mans feet sticking out of a cardboard box and he placed the 2$ he had in his pocket next to him. As he moved and began to look up I noticed it was the same man that helped me so I quickly turned so he couldn’t see my face for fear of him telling my mom what had happened. As I began to tiptoe away with my back turned, I began to hear my mom cry and say “oh my god, oh my god”. I looked back as she dropped to her knees crying and hugging him. At that point I was really confused so I chose to walk back towards them and I noticed he didn’t even recognize me and reacted to her as if she was a stranger. She then said to him in tears, “Alvin, it’s me”.
I froze and then started to realize that my fathers name was Alvin who walked out on us 13 years ago. I then walked towards him and began to cry as I hugged him so very tightly as if I didn’t want to loose him for the third time. My brothers were confused and didn’t know how to react cause they were so young and didn’t remember anything about the day he left. We then brought him home with us and took care of him and tried to get him some help with his memory.
A few months passed with no luck with his memory but my mom had showed him pictures of them when they were together with all of us so he knew he was our father. I still hadn’t told my mom about the incident in the alley for fear of what she would think of me so I felt it was easier to speak to someone else.
After working for the man in his record store, we had became close and I was able to talk to him about my problems but I had never shared that one with him. But at this point, it was all so overwhelming that one night after work, I stayed behind as I did on occasion while he was working with one of his talents. While listening to the music I began to cry and he pulled me into the next room to talk to me. I immediately broke into heavy tears and explained to him what I had been holding in this whole time. Keep in mind he had already knew everything else about me and had always been there for me. After I told him about my story, I then went home feeling a little bit better as if I lifted a weight off of my shoulders.
The very next day when I had arrived to work, I noticed that he had hired someone else in my place. He immediately called me down to the studio and said he had to speak with me. When I entered, there was another man standing behind him with his back turned looking down. He then told me to have a seat as he informed me that he couldn’t have me work in the record store any longer. I was confused and was about to lash out but I was curious what was going on and who is that other man.
He then explained to me that man was a close high school friend that had made a few low budget movies and had a proposition for me. He then explained to me how he just mortgaged his home early that morning and met with some attorneys to draw up a contract. He then handed me a check for $250,000 and said that’s just for starters. I then said “what is going on”! He then explained to me that I had something very special and he was willing to sacrifice everything he had only for the right to tell my story. At that very moment, my life was never the same...
So I agreed to allow him to tell my story and rushed home to tell my mom about what had happened cause I didn’t want her to find out another way. She then began to cry as I told her I was ok and everything was gonna be just fine. I then showed her all the money I was given and told her about what was about to take place. I told her let’s take my father to get the proper help he needed to help restore his memory.
A few months had passed and the movie was nearly complete when we had a breakthrough with my father. He was able to remember finding a young girl in that alley we found him in that had been harmed, I had never reminded him about that situation for fear of his memory and what he might accidentally say to someone I didn’t want to know. He then remembered waited in that alley hoping to one day bump into her again. That was the only thing he could remember. We all cried and had a moment until I realized that the movie was not yet complete.
I then rushed out the house down to the record store to let the owner know my story was not yet complete. As I told him, he’s said not to worry, everything is happening the way it’s supposed to. He then contacted his friend and he laughed in disbelief and said “OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD”! Well I’m sure you know what happened after that. The movie was a big hit. He was nominated for best picture, best story, he won many awards and when he spoke at the award ceremonies, he always had us all there with him and he would always call us all to the stage and say that those awards belonged to us.
It happened to be the highest gross profit film back then in 1979 which made me a very wealthy woman. My success began after that moment when I started up a non profit organization that dealt with veterans transitioning home after the war where I spent the majority of my wealth in start up cost in the city of Chicago. It’s been doing well over the past 20 years and we’re never short of donations which is why I was able to expand in all major cities across the entire country.
Now here I am 39 years old after living one of the most interesting lives. I always stop by the first location I ever started where I keep all the awards, pictures and memories in the front entry way where our story is constantly told in memories. I was never able to have kids after that day but I was able to not only adopt 4 beautiful children from broken homes, I started up a youth program for misguided kids that was in conjunction with my other organization where my two younger brothers coordinated. Yea, I guess you can say life has been great for all of us including my father who was able to recover most of his memories 3 years after all the help he had received. That is my success story.
THE END
Dedicated to all of you who were touched by this story in relation to your life’s story, you’re the true success stories.
Written by: Jamal Rashon LaChapelle