“You keep it on the inside cause that’s the safest place to hide.” This was my brothers favorite saying. He was never the type of guy to talk about his problems. Therefore his instinct was to always make a joke about any bad situation. My brother Daniel used to make the best out of any situation considering that it took us a long way to get to where we are now. He is 19 years old, tall, has brown hair and has brown eyes. He always wore a white buttoned up t-shirt, with khaki pants, because this was his school uniform. A lot of the time he even slept in them. I can’t really define anybody as strong, however, I’d like to think that my brother is pretty close to it.

Our family never had any money. My mother was kicked out of her home when she was only 15. We had always lived in Chicago moving from house to house, and we never stayed in one place longer than 2 years. Because of divorces and other issues, my mother finally decided to pursue her dream by finishing school and becoming a medical nurse. This only meant that my brother would have to stay home and take care of all three of his siblings. At the time my sister was only 9 years old, my youngest brother was 5, and I was only 8. Danny had to grow up very fast at a young age. If you could ask him what his childhood was like, he would most likely say he’d never really got to have the childhood he would have dreamed of.

Every day my mother would leave at 7 in the morning, and she would come home at 11 every night. For some odd reason my brother would wait up all night just to make sure she came home safe. Danny would come straight from his school to my elementary school to pick me and my sister up. Then we would go to my little brothers daycare. The walk home would be about 30 to 40 minutes in the hot summer days. Every now and then he would save up to buy us raspados1 from the elotero.2 Once we got home he would cook for us, and help us complete our homework. Just like any other family we had issues. My father spent more years in jail than he has with any of his children. This affected me because not only was my mom never home, but i never got to see my dad either. My brother stepped up and took all responsibilities. My brother knew what it was like to have an a dad that was never there. Sometimes he would jokingly say in a sarcastic voice “Father? I don’t have one.” I always knew it hurt him just as much as it hurt me. I know he only wanted me to get a better life, and he’d only wanted to protect me. Transferring to many schools really affected me. I’d always get bullied for being the new kid. However, he told me never to let them get the better of me, and so he dealt with my problem.

My brother is my hero because he sacrificed so much for me. Last year when he moved an hour away, I couldn’t have been any sadder. Till this day he drives an hour to my house when he knows I’m feeling down. It saddens me to know that he hides his feelings, but it’s the way he copes with it. He once told me “It’s up to you to find the good in the ugly”, and I never forgot it since.