A father writes about his four sons and why he feels so blessed to have them in his life.
My name is Jack. Jack Wilson. I live in Coral Gables, Florida; I am a single father.
I work two jobs: two days a week I work at a restaurant where I am a server; the other three days I work at a factory. I work these jobs to try to provide for my boys, who are my world.
When I am at work, my mother, Eleanor, watches the boys. She is very patient, very loving with them; she does a great job at being there for them when I can't. She doesn't want to take any money because they're her grandkids; however, I insist. She just turns around and buys something for the boys! LOL
She says being with her grandbabies is "payment enough".
My boys range in age from four to twelve; their names are (from youngest to oldest) Christopher Ryan (four), Tevin Campbell (seven), Evan Oscar (nine), and the oldest, twelve-year-old Garver Michael.
They are also adopted. I adopted them from Africa (Tevin), Korea (Evan), and the United States (Christopher and Garver). I adopted them because my wife, Annie (she died ten years ago, shortly after we were married; she had cancer), couldn't have children (partly due to her illness, also because she had an incomplete uterus).
I haven't regretted it.
When my wife died my world ended. She was my life; she was my everything. When she got sick, my whole world stopped; no matter what they did, doctors couldn't stop the cancer from spreading. It started in her lymph nodes; it went to her breasts, then to her liver; there was nothing they could do to save her. Annie died only three months after being diagnosed.
I never thought I could be happy again--but then came the call to tell me that the boys I were planning to adopt (Garver and Evan) were to be mine. It was nothing short of a miracle.
About two months later, Garver and Evan arrived: two scared, uncertain little guys who had no idea what was going on; however, it wasn't long before they settled into our family. They are now typical boys who have totally immersed themselves into my home--and my heart.
Now Evan and Garver have two new brothers: Tevin from Africa and Christopher from Georgia (the United States). Tevin and Christopher came only two years ago, yet it seems they've always been with me. I love them so much; I love all my boys.
People understandably stare at me whenever we go out into the public eye; that isn't surprising, seeing my boys don't look a thing like me. Yet I am still their father, legally--and permanently. They are my sons; I am their father; nothing can ever change that.
I am currently talking to people about adoption; I speak at schools, churches, luncheons around the Coral Gables area. I have gone as far as Miami to speak, and I am in the process of writing a book about being a single, adoptive parent. It is something I haven't regretted doing, and I am not ashamed to be an advocate for intercountry adoption, particularly the adoption of children who are older--or have special needs.
(None of my sons have special needs, but I am willing to take on a child with special needs, raise him--or her--as my own. I have a lot of love in my heart!)
There are not gold treasures more valuable than to have children on our lives and...He said that if you love His chindren...He certainly loves you.
Georg
These timeless quotations culled from the celebrated corpus of writings by W.E.B. Du Bois are presented with illuminating introductory essays by Aberjhani. Narration of the Audible book performed by Catherine Byers.
Timeless wisdom and advice on the art of living for today’s young and old: The art of thinking, the art of loving, the art of working, the art of leadership, the art of growing old.
A new translation by Sergio E. Serrano of this inspirationa
