MOSAIC: voices from Polson High School

Welcome to Mosaic.
Be honest. Be kind. Be temperate.

Megan’s American Dream

What is an American Dream? I used to think that it was the perfect family: mom, dad, two children, the white picket fence surrounding the large yard and the just right size house that I could call home.
But the truth is that an American Dream can be whatever an individual considers to be a goal, which one sets hoping to achieve that one thing in life he or she would love most to pursue. For some, that is to have the same American Dream as everyone else. They just want to be accepted, living what society may call the “perfect life”. Others want the dream that sets them apart from the rest of society, where they can achieve greatness. But as for me I want the dream that is mine, the one that belongs to me.
When I was just five years old my parents got a divorce to this day I still blame myself for it. It might be because the cause of the divorce is still unknown to me. The day my mom walked out on my dad and us was the day I grew up, the day I became the other, the other parent. My days playing with my friends and watching cartoons were gone, for I became responsible. Responsible for my brothers, cleaning the house, and making sure that my dad wasn’t going to go insane! These are things that no child, no five year old should ever have to deal with.
The day the divorce became final, was the day that my first grade Christmas recital was to be on. That day was just like any-other day, I woke up, my dad took me to school after dropping off John and Steven, my brothers at the daycare. There was nothing out of the ordinary. When dropping me off I asked him if he was going to make to my recital, and he said he would try. When the time for my recital rolled around I began to look for my dad in the audience, but there was no sign of him. I went through the whole recital wondering whether or if he was ok, where he was, if he forgot, for my dad was a police officer and anything could have happened. After the recital was over I walked around with my teacher looking for my dad, but I couldn’t find him. Eventually a couple of women approached us, it was my mom and my grandmother was with her. They told my teacher that I was going home with them for Christmas. What I didn’t know was that what they were really doing was taking me to Belle Fourche for the rest of my life. My mom got custody of the kids, my brothers and myself. I never saw my dad at my recital, I didn’t get to say goodbye, from that day on the visits to see my dad became limited and my life, friends and family changed. That day was the day I started to hate my mom for running out on my family, our family and for taking me away from my dad.
From the very moment my mom walked out on our family, was the day I decided never to fall in love, have a family, or get married. But if I were to do so that I would be blessed my God with the man for me, and stable marriage for if divorce was ever to cross my mind that may I be punished before ever doing so, for I am never going to put my children through what I went through.
My dream is that wherever life may take me, I will have the blessings of life, filled with the abundance of family, friends, love, a home to call my own, and God’s guidance in my presence. I know throughout this dream, my American Dream that I have yet to discover, there will be many trials, sacrifices, victories, achievements, losses, and gains, but every bit of that will be all worth it when I reach my dream, whatever it may be.
But why be like everyone else? Why not be different, not necessarily achieving greatness, but living the dream that is set for you? The truth is that we all have a dream, an American Dream, something that we all hope to achieve, but how many of us will go and make it reality!