I was the head of the household.

When we got to his house, I was in awe of the size

For four years, I was the man of the house. I worked hard and took care of my mother and sister. When my dad walked out, he left us with a penny. Mom had to find a job and I had to pick up where he left off. I made sure my sister was in bed on time and that she had her homework done. I got her up in the morning and I got her off to school. I was going to school full-time and taking care of the house. For years I had been the man of the house. When my mom came home one afternoon and announced she was getting married, I thought I was going to go ballistic. We didn’t even know she was dating. I was about to be fifteen and my sister was ten. We would have understood. She opened the door and let the man in. He looked nice enough, but I wanted to know about him. He told me he owned an HVAC company. He said he was the lead HVAC technician and he owned a house in the suburbs. His wife had died two years ago, and he was in love with mom. He asked if I thought we could join him at his house, and talk about being a family. When we got to his house, I was in awe of the size. He asked if I wanted to help him change the air filters. Six months later, I was living there, and loving just being a kid again. I’m even thinking about being an HVAC technician some day, and working for my stepdad.

 

 

Cooling technician