A Forgotten Dream by La'Keisha

A Forgotten Dream by La'Keisha - August 2024 Scholarship Essay

A dream can easily be forgotten, when the pieces are left behind. As I reminisce over my life, I remember my parents telling me that I can be anything I want to be. My dreams were as tall or even taller than my little body stood. I wanted to be a lawyer, a doctor, a change maker. I was going to make the world peaceful. My grades were always pristine, I graduated as an honor graduate. I knew that I was going to achieve all my goals. That was until I entered my first semester of college.
As I entered college my mother was entering a mental institution. I couldn't rap my mind around what was happening, she'd sat me down throughout my childhood and spoke with me about her mental illness, however I'd never seen it. While I worked two jobs and traveled back and forth hours to make sure she was okay, my idea of education changed. I lost my scholarships because my GPA dropped, due to all the responsibilities. My dreams of being the lawyer, or that doctor seemed so far away.
I graduated with my biology degree and in attempts to bounce back from the hardship in my family I went to nursing school , with a plan to get my Doctorate as a Nurse Practitioner, and open up my own clinic. A similar situation happened and once I graduated I went right to work. Attempting to make sure that I can take care of myself to relieve the burden from my parents, and allow them some financial relief. My dream quickly became forgotten. Wrapped up in the reality of life I lost sight of the little girl with the huge dreams.
When I got the call at twelve AM that the ambulance was outside of my parents home my life changed forever. The person who'd poured into me all my life was pronounced dead at 2:09 AM. As my father transitioned, my mindset changed. My father a man who loved school, who loved people, and gave his all to everyone. He had plans to make changes even at the age of 63, battling drug addiction, he made an impact on so many peoples lives. He showed me throughout life that people are multidimensional, that you are not just one thing.
His death lead me to igniting the dreams within me. The dream that he'd always poured into. That he'd always pushed me toward. Since he passed away I've enrolled in my Doctorate program as a Nurse Practitioner, I will achieve the dream that I once had. That will allow me to open my practice in honor of him.