When I asked why he hadn’t called in sick, he smiled and said, « Rent doesn’t take sick days, sweetheart. »
My parents didn’t have expensive clothes.
They didn’t drive impressive cars.
They never took fancy vacations.
But they had something more valuable than any of those things.
They had each other.
And they had a daughter they were determined to give a better life.
Years later, after Dad sold his small interest in a repair business he’d helped build and Mom withdrew part of her retirement savings, they did something extraordinary.
They bought me a house.
Not a mansion.
Continue on the next page:
