mi familia

my brotha, d, had surgery on his leg yesterday. a while back we discovered that he had a fracture in his tibia. that tough little baby played football and started to run track with the injury. when the doctors said that surgically inserting a metal rod into d's leg was the best option, my parents immediately tried contacted his family to get permission. to this day, his mother refuses to return calls. she's mad at d because he wouldn't give her his social security number so she could file for SSI or put him on her tax return or some other crappy financial reason. she didn't even call d on his birthday.

my parents had to get a judge to order that the surgery be done. d was extremely nervous about the whole procedure and at first refused to have it done. my parents and his coaches explained it all to him and finally convinced him that everything would turn out fine. d called his uncle and sisters, who all live in the same town as my family, and asked them to come to his surgery. yesterday when he went into the hospital, the only people there were my parents and one of his coaches. i just talked to d a few minutes ago and he's in a lot of pain, but doing well.

all of this just makes me love/respect that baby even more. i cannot comprehend what it must be like to have a family like his. it breaks my heart for him. a lot of kids in his situation end up making horrible choices and developing even worse attitudes. d, on the other hand, has chosen to be hard-working, kind, sweet person. i'm so proud to have him as a part of my family.