Narrative Essay

-->                 My name is Chandler and I have selected to interview my father, Michael about his time growing up. I am 16 years old and a junior in High school that is highly involved in sports. I have chosen to interview my dad because out of all my family members he is the most interesting.
           He was born in Taiwan and moved to the US when he was the age 6. He grew up in Plain View, Utah. He graduated High School from Weber High with his 4.0 GPA. He wasn't involved in many extra curricular things and focused more on work and school. When he was 16 years old, he got his first real job as janitor at plain view Elementary school. His favorite movie growing up was Star Wars, because it was the first movie with all the special effects and it was one of the first movies that he saw on a big screen. When he was younger he always dreamed of being a pediatrician, he always enjoyed kids and knew that the job could provide for a family.
         My dad is the oldest of three children in his family, with a younger half-brother and younger half-sister. His father left him at a young age and only recently have the reconnected. His mother got remarried and that's when she had two more kids but they are distantly younger than him. He doesn't know a lot of his family other than the immediate ones because they still currently live in Taiwan. The closest family member to him would have to be his Grandmother. Luckily, my mom's family is very accepting and as basically adopted him into their lives and the family.
           Growing up, he struggled, when he first moved to America he knew zero English and had to learn the language while in school. Not only did he not know the language, but he was also the only non-Caucasian in his school making it easy to be made fun of. He struggled even through High School making it hard to enjoy anything from his youth. When he was 19 years old, he served a mission for the Church of Later-day saints that changed his life. On his mission, he truly found out who he was and had a better understanding of life itself. He also refers to the fact that the struggles of his youth make him the person he is today.
           Another topic that he talked about is how things have changed since he was a child. One thing that he emphasized strongly was the media. It bewilders him how as a nation we just allow the vulgar language and can curse on cable TV. Not just only that, but also how there was no Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and any other social networking site. When he was a teenager he said, "I would always get in trouble for using the house phone connected to the wall". This was a problem for him because it was the only phone they had so they had to share, not just that, but also they weren't that wealthy and that costed a lot of money. He also brought up the point about how children have changed since he was once one himself. "They don't embrace work like they used to" he said. Also the opportunity for them to be involved in sports is much greater, with now having Jv's and freshman teams.
             Interviewing my dad taught me that everyone has struggles and there are ways to get past them. He went through a lot having moved here from a foreign country and having his father leave him. Now I understand why he works so hard and makes sure that we kids have a good childhood.