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Ava

Greendale Middle School, Greendale, Wisconsin

It’s been 2 or 3 years since I last saw my dad. I don’t feel sad anymore. I do feel angry though, because I don't know why someone would do something so bad that they can’t even see their family.

The reason we can’t see my dad is because he was drinking while driving with us in the car one night. I remember that night very well because we had just got back to his house and I wanted to shower. So while I was in the shower my sister called my mom and said my dad was acting weird. My mom came with her friend Ellen right away to pick us up. I think she yelled at my dad but all I know is I walked out of the bathroom and was told to get my stuff because we were leaving. I couldn't understand at the time why we had to leave, but now I do. What’s funny is that this reminds me of one of my favorite shows, Cobra Kai. One of the main characters, Johnny, did the same thing to his kid. Both my dad and Johnny were drinking while driving and then couldn't see their own family because of it.

This all happened 2 or 3 years ago. I was finally able to go to my dad’s house again and I was having so much fun. We had all our normal family events with him like Christmas, Thanksgiving, Packers games, ect. But then he started to drink again, And I wasn’t allowed to go to his house anymore. This made me upset at the time because I do love my dad and he was one of my favorite people to hang out with. I loved going to his house because it was really nice and we would make dinner together every night and then play games and watch movies.

But I still haven’t been to his house and I do really miss going over there. Plus I liked when we would go to escape rooms and stuff with his cousins and mine. It was usually one of my favorite things that we did together. Now I haven’t seen him in so long. I would love to go over to his house but I can’t and that does make me sad when I think about it. He missed so many important things in my life already. He missed my dance recitals, me becoming a teenager, and much more. So I guess I do feel some sadness when I think about it. I do try not to think about the fact that I haven’t seen him in so long because it makes me upset and I don’t want to be, Now that he is out of jail we have been able to see each other a few times and hangout/talk, and we have done a few escape rooms as well. So what I have learned is that even though you do bad things there is always a way out of it.

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