He hated him at first and then something unimaginable happened.
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FunTranscript
00:00My lovely mother started dating. I remember coming home from a basketball practice in 10th grade
00:06And when I opened up the door right there in the living room was this guy his name was Mike
00:11Mike was my mom's new friend as her oldest kid. I thought I was the golden child
00:17Why would she need another man? I'm here mom. All right
00:21And I remember Mike standing up. He comes up to me. He said hey your mom's told me so much about you
00:28Now I'm looking at Mike and I say she ain't tell me anything about you
00:33And so like any other boyfriend that she had my goal was trying to make his life miserable
00:38So that they realized that this can't work
00:41But instead of him giving in he moved in and now
00:46He was trying to be my dad a friend a mentor someone on my side, and I didn't let him
00:53He would actually show up to my basketball games
00:56Which is weird because most of the time none of my family members or mom could come to my basketball game
01:01My mom worked two jobs
01:02It was just something but he would show up to every game when he first started doing that
01:07I would still take the bus home
01:09When other kids would go home with their parents because I didn't want to go home with him
01:13He showed up to my away game and I didn't play a lot
01:16All right, my position on the basketball team was water guard
01:21Alright, so at the end of the bench night next to the water and he would show up and he would always bring a camera
01:29Mike worked in our small town and his factory where most people worked
01:33But Mike's dream job was to be a photographer not just a photographer, but a photographer for the Dallas Cowboys
01:41But instead of taking a picture of the Dallas Cowboys
01:44He had to take pictures of me
01:46And he would take pictures of me even though I didn't ask him to be there and after every game
01:51He would print me pictures of the little time. I played basketball
01:56And it was at that point where I started letting him into my life
02:00Now fast-forwarding to when I had my ACT my junior year one of those days on my basketball games
02:06We were driving back like every other away game long, Texas Road with long
02:11Conversation and I remember being a brat. I remember being a brat to him
02:16I remember looking at his camera and saying why do you care about this camera? It's not your real job
02:24And instead of getting the mad at me Michael was very patient
02:27Michael pulled over on the side of the highway and he looked at me everything in that truck made noise
02:32But the horn all right, and he parked the truck and he looked at me and he said son
02:37I know you're upset about that ACT score, but I want you to understand something
02:43It's not about what you know. It is about what you do
02:49It's not about how much intelligence you have it is about how much impact you make
02:55What are you going to do about it? And it meant so much to me
02:59I remember going into my senior year writing all the things I wanted to do
03:03I wanted to get my first all a report card
03:05I wanted to go to college none of my parents with the college had no idea what that process looked like
03:10I wrote down all the things I wanted to do and I became obsessed with that list
03:14And my last semester of my senior year. I got my first all-day report card
03:18I went out to college I ended up graduating with honors in the front of my class and graduated in four years
03:24But honestly my greatest achievement is getting that college degree
03:29Not only was getting the college degree
03:31But it's because seeing my mother get her college degree
03:36From there my brother graduated from Midwestern State and he ended up getting his degree as well
03:42Mike
03:45Ended up being a photographer for the Dallas Cowboys
03:55What's amazing about this picture in the times that I saw Michael before any of my accomplishments this was the first man
04:01I've seen woman achieved his dreams and it was so amazing to see that people can actually
04:07Achieve their dreams, but the reason why you don't see Mike in any of our graduation photos
04:13It's not because he was taking a photo
04:16It was because at a young age of 47 years old when I was a sophomore in college
04:20I get a call from my mom that Mike is in the hospital and he passed away
04:27and
04:28That is when I realized all the things I achieved was based off the motivation of time and that time I had with Mike
04:36And it wouldn't be without that moment the ninth life that I had to go that low to realize how sweet time is
04:44Michael was my friend my mentor and the person I saw turn a dream into reality
04:53If Mike was alive today, I would tell him how much of a difference he made in my life
04:58One of the biggest lessons Mike taught me was that we can all achieve our dreams regardless gender race age
05:06Socioeconomic status we can actually become the person we want to be
05:09Growing up and seeing someone like Mike actually go after their dreams really gave me the confidence to believe in mine
05:16If you have a Mike in your life that has helped you get to where you are
05:19Share them this story send them a text and tell them how much you appreciate
05:28You