“Maturity and strength is not when we start speaking big things, it is when we start understanding small things.” At a young age my father Eliazar, tall, medium length black hair, brown eyes had gone through an up and down roller coaster of emotion. To him it was just his life, his everyday life, from sun up to sundown never complaining. Life does not slow down for people to catch up, you can either live life always behind or work hard to stay ahead of it.

Being dedicated can allow you to mold your life in the way that you want it to be. My Dad was born July 14th, 1968. Not knowing what life had instore for him. Born into a family that already has two kids that are much older than him, having a brother that was already 12 and a sister that was 6 years older than him. This put him into a spot in the family that basically comes with high expectations. Although my dad wasn't able to understand much at the time, he was grateful to be born into the family that he calls his. He had a father that loved him very much and a mother that would give her life protect him. His siblings were very supportive of him and love his as well. From the minute that Eliazar could understand things, he knew that he had a very close connection with his father. To this day he still says “Boys, well they were meant to be daddy's boys. I was a daddy’s boy and I loved it, we just have more in common.” Growing up in the small town of Mundelein, Illinois life was good and healthy until the day that his dad had a heart attack very unexpectedly. On the day that it had happened, my dad and his mom and siblings rushed to the hospital in Libertyville to find out that….. He had been transported by helicopter to the hospital all the way in Milwaukee. He had felt completely helpless being more than an hour away from his father. Despite all of the feelings of negativity my father and his family prayed and they had high spirits for his dad to be well. Although his dad had suffered a life changing injury, he had still went on to run his business with the help of my dad who at the time was only 13 years old. Eliazar had a rough time of doubt, he was unsure of the health of his dad and he would have to get pulled out of school to help with his dad's business. With balancing school and working with his dad, it became very stressful and hard for his life, but with the help of his friends he was able to relax and stay focused.

Eliazar had graduated from Mundelein High School in 1986 with all of the intentions of going to college to study agriculture to better his knowledge within landscaping. With his father's health slowly dwelling he was forced to skip college and stay in Mundelein to help run the family business. After being despaired my father had asked the girl who he had fallen completely in love with to marry him after being together for two years. In 1995 my father and mother had their first child who was my older brother Aaron. From the time Aaron was born my dad was so happy. He would say “All of the Boston kids (my cousins) would run away from grandpa and never want to sit on his lap, until you came along. You loved him so much and he loved you so much.” Then on December 26th, 1996 my father had faced the hardest challenge in his life. The day after christmas his father had suffered a second heart attack that had killed him in the parking lot of Condell Medical Hospital in Libertyville, while plowing the parking lot. Although my dad was already grown up and married with one son, he had faced complete heartbreak. He had lost the man that he had the most connections with. With his dad's death he had been given the business. Eliazar had felt the pressure of succeeding because it was the only thing that he had left that he felt was apart of his dad. In 1997 my father and mother had their second child on the way which was my older sister. After a couple of years he had to sell the business because sales were not what they were when my grandfather was running it and he was forced to get over it. With the birth of his second child he found happiness in his family and kids rather than being stuck on the business. Then 2000 came around and he had his third child on the way which was me. As life went on, to be able him watch his kids grow up was one and is still one of his favorite parts in life. He had picked us up from when we would fall and he always tells my sister “ you were a klutz, you always would fall on your face. I would always have to pick you up and put a band aid on your head to have you gain some comfort.”

My dad lives by this philosophy and that goes “ As long as you always work hard, and give life your complete all, you will be able to achieve anything.” Anyone that knows my dad would know that he is hardworking, experienced, and thoughtful. That quote describes perfectly the way that he lives his life and the way that he treats other people. Throughout my father's life he has always been able to see the good in almost every situation no matter how good or how bad. Picturing what a life would be like if my father had serious injuries, and ran a business and later on passing away, that would just be too hard to come to terms with. My father was faced with those worries and he had to move on from it. With experiences that I have faced such as my parents getting divorced in May of 2012 and so on, my father has willingly been there for me through my ups and my downs so far in my time of being born. He never forces me to do something if I don’t like it but he always nudges me towards the right path in life. In times of wisdom my dad always says “ I can never tell you exactly what to do. If I did that as a parent, I do not believe that I would be teaching you the right thing.” He would then go on to say “ In life Mijo, you have to decide what is best for you and what will give you the most opportunity to succeed. In order for you to learn best, you have to make mistakes… but you have to learn from those mistakes.” To this day, I look back on my past to see what I could've done differently and like every human being I have made mistakes and I have suffered, but I look back on the childhood that my dad had and I realize that it isn't so bad. I am able to feed off like a hawk that is feeding off freshly caught prey. It gives me courage and hope for things to get better as life goes on.

Current day, my father is a strong, dedicated family man that works for the 7th ranked landscaping company in the nation. The fact that all he has is a High school diploma and can say that he has 40 years of experience in his line of work is very impressive. He is happily remarried, and he is amazed at where he has gotten within the past 47 years of being alive. He is built like a wave breaker that is meant to withstand the biggest waves in the world. Once a kid when I was younger was picking on me and my dad had come over to tell the kid to “stop that right now”. He had ended up talking to his parents and making sure that it would never happen again. My father is always up for stepping up for others who need a little extra help. He has always been able to to help and overcome anything that comes in his way.

My dad has faced an abundance of adversity in his life and this has made him the great man that he is today. He has been able to shape his life the way that he has wanted because he is such a hard worker and he is determined to be great at everything.This had lead me to realize that the man that I call my Dad is more than just that, but he is a persistent, dedicated, and strong person in every way. My dad is the main reason that I am the person that I have become today because he makes me feel courageous and very determined. I can always count on my dad to watch out for me and make sure that I make the right choices in life. I am able to take so much away from my dad's past experiences and I will always look at my life and know that there is always going to be something better, as well as being determined and to work hard in life. My father is a big believer in love. By that I mean that he is the most loving person. He always lets his children know that he will love us no matter what. “You can’t let things that life throws at you determine if you're happy or not. You need to be able to pick yourself back up when you get knocked down. You have to make yourself happy and surround yourself with people that love you.”