My brother is four years older than me, making him 38. We just found out he is going to be a grandpa in April.
Now, John has never had much good luck, all his life. He had awful acne as a teenager and turned to tattoos to take people's attention away from the scars and sores on his face. He hated authority and especially school so of course he was a dropout as soon as our dad died. Covered in tattoos, no diploma, and the very awful attitude pretty much determined the fate of his young adult life.
When he finally got his first real girlfriend, he'd just turned 18. He was still a virgin (and she was not) so of course they had sex as soon as possible. And she got pregnant. She decided she wanted to keep the baby. They soon broke up, and John shortly after that moved to Arizona. Right after that he was in a motorcycle accident and had to undergo brain surgery and subsequent physical therapy. He was pretty screwed up for a while.
The baby was born and John was court ordered to make child support payments. I think he managed to visit once or twice while the little girl was growing up--but she probably was better off without him in her life so much. Her mother married a guy and John's daughter was brought up in a strict, normal home.
She made contact with me right before her high school graduation this past year, and I was excited to hear about her college plans. I sent money as soon as possible, to help her get started on college. I periodically talked with her or her mom to keep up with things. As I got busy this past summer the communication kinda dropped off. That's when she got pregnant.
It's disappointing to see this girl live out the stupid life that her mother and grandmother lived before her; being a teenage mom in Omaha, Nebraska. It's especially disappointing because some of the conversations I had with her sounded as if she was interested in moving out of there once she finished a couple of years at the community college, so she could possibly go to a University here in Arizona.
We know people who could've really hooked her up with scholarships and grants, and we certainly would've helped her cover the costs.
God, I hate Omaha.
