Not What It Seems by Mahela Taj

I believe that everything happens for a reason.

Someone reminds me of this every single day, my dad. As lucky as I am to live with a roof over my head, it wasn’t easy to gain.

My mother told me about how they managed to make a living and the hardships they both went through. My dad has struggled to find a place to live; he was in a spot where he was forced to stay on the streets to sleep and live. My father had migrated from London, England to Chicago, Illinois and was living life as if it was every man for himself. When he had doubted a positive outcome, he had met the love of his life. My mother was his boost of determination to find a job and maintain a lifestyle that was healthy for them. Five years later, I was introduced to their lives. Keeping me healthy was and still is their biggest priority.

Unfortunately when I was born, another obstacle came upon them, my dad had lost his job. This limited them from a lot, and we had to hold onto what we had left. My mother then turned to God, and prayed for a miracle. This helped our family out quite a bit. He gained luck from finding hundred dollar bills on the ground, to visa gift cards full of money. It was something he did not expect, but got both of my parents to see the bright side of things.


Currently, we are happy to say that we do maintain a stable life for our family and have bright plans for the future. Afterwords, I personally felt a flood of emotions. From gratitude, to curiosity, and even a bit of regret. I have taken this story they’ve confessed to me into a life lesson. Anytime I feel as if my problems are the end of the world, the image of my parents going through those tough times appear; my issues seem less intimidating.

The idea of everything happening for a reason is hard to accept, but the story I was told got me to see that sometimes you have to get through the worst of times to get to the best of times.