Bring Rocky Home - 2012-04-18 - 09:00pm

Hi Rocky,

I hope you are doing OK. You know, I told someone today that I am not sure what to write to you tonight and he said to me to write something positive. I really did not give it a second thought until now.... I normally don't have to think about it but tonight I wanted to write something special to you....

When I was in high school I was always know as someone's daughter, or someone's sister..... I was never known as just me.... I was in school with the same people for most of my 12 years at school.... and I loved all of them and I am still in contact with most of them..... BUT - I wanted to go somewhere where I could start over - we I would be just me..... My parents took me to the airport, I boarded a flight for the first time in my life and I flew to a city far from home. A stranger picked me up to the airport, dropped me off at the dorm and I never saw him again..... It was the start of my first time ever away from home but I had to deal with it.... all by myself.... I had no-one to talk to, no-one to share anything with.... I really missed my family and I could only go home once every six months..... to make things worse, the was a hurricane that hit my home town and for my first two weeks I could not even call home.... no contact for someone that was so close to their family and no way to even get close to home. I had no money to fly and no way to contact anyone that could help me or even tell me that my family was ok.....

So, in stead of enjoying my life in college like the other students did, I sat around feeling sorry for myself - thinking that I was all alone - no one to talk with - walking around like the cat stole my milk.....

The part that I did not see was what was going on back home.... I am one of four girls.... at that time only my youngest sister was still in high school. In one week my oldest sister moved to northern part of the country, I went off to college and my sister just younger than me went off to school even further than what I was..... Then the storm hit the city and all communication was lost.... So in one week my parents lost three of their four kids and for two weeks they could not check up on any one of us.... this almost killed my mother but I was so caught up in my own loneliness that not once did I think of my poor mother.....

My mother was (and still is) the type of person that made four kinds of breakfast every morning - we always got whatever we wanted for breakfast because my mom believed that if we walked out of the house and something should happen to us, at least she gave us whatever we wanted to eat. She is such a great mother and would most likely do ANYTHING for her children.....

Once we established communications again, my dad told me all of this and how hard it was for my mother... I know that it was hard for him also but of course he was a man so he never admitted it...

At that point I decided that I need to start being more positive - stop always looking at the negative and focus only on the positive.... It is very hard sometimes but there was always one question that I could ask myself before I made any big decision in my life: "What is the worst thing that could happen"? To this day I still live by that rule.....

While I was in college, I had no money.... sometimes I would have enough shampoo for just one more wash and I would worry about how I was going to wash my hair the next day.... "What is the worst thing that could happen?"... Asking someone if I can have a little bit of their shampoo? That is not so bad.... Then, that afternoon I would received a letter in the mail from my grandmother with enough money in to buy a bus ticket into the city and a bottle of shampoo.... In the end there was always a higher power that took care of us and knew what we needed.

After I finished college I move back home and not long after that I got my own apartment and moved in.... I had an apartment but I had no money for food or furniture.... I took a bus (that was free from the office) to my mom's house twice a week to go spend time with them and more than anything else, to go eat.... Not long after that I met your dad and when we were married five years I was offered a job in America..... We were both very close to my parents and at the same time we knew that you were somewhere in South Africa..... It was a really hard decision to make - and once again I thought: "What is the worst thing that could happen?" Well the answer was easy, the worst thing that could happen to me was getting back home with my parents... I would have to face the people that I worked with and ask for my job back but you know what - I will be with my family so that is worth everything else that I need to face.....

Well your dad and I moved to America - we came over with $100 and four suitcases of clothes. We got to Sacramento airport and had to drive a rental car to our hotel... We had a little piece of paper with directions on, had to drive a car on the wrong side of the road and talk to people that really did not understand a word that we were saying - even if we spoke English.... That was really hard and for the first year I just wanted to go home.... For the first month or so we did not have money for food.... some days we shared a $1 hamburger - the only food we had for a day..... It was hard times and we had to work really hard for everything that we have today.... and it was not always easy..... we had huge fights.... but in the end we were there for each other...... and believe me, both of us considered leaving at some point but we never did....

The one thing that kept me going throught all of this is family.... I have a wonderful Mother, three wonderful sisters, one brother-in-law and all the children, and when I married your dad, I was lucky enough to get three more wonderful sisters, three brother-in-laws and their children...... so you see, in the end, no matter how far you are from home, the one thing you can always count on is your family.

Tonight I would like to challenge you - if you come home: "What is the worst thing that can happen?". Things can be the same as what they were OR things can be better. Is it not worth a try? What do you have to lose?

I better get to sleep otherwise I will never be able to get out of bed in the morning.....

Rocky, if you don't know by now that we love you and we want you to come home, I really don't know what more to do to convice you. Sometimes you have to take a chance.... let us be the chance that you take this time..... Ask yourself: "What is the worst thing that can happen?"


We love you very much,
Dad and Ma