I wish I can claim all the credit

Last week, my eldest son graduated from college. Finally! A college graduate in the family!

Ralph finished Accounting and will be taking his review in preparation for the CPA board exam in October.

Of course, being the proud father that I am, I immediately uploaded pictures of his graduation on my Facebook account. It wasn’t long before the pictures got a number of Likes and comments from my relatives and friends.

Congratulations were given both to my son and me. Ralph for finally graduating and me for having a son finished college.

It’s every parent’s dream. One of a parent’s greatest accomplishments. Now, it’s my greatest accomplishment as a single father.

I wish I can claim all the credit for Ralph’s graduation. But I know I can’t... I just can’t. I wasn’t just me.

Getting him through college, I was practically crawling. Having a meager income, and with two younger children going to school too, it was really an impossible task to make both ends meet. In fact, I did not.

But I have to keep the kids going to school while making sure there’s food on the table, clothes on their back, and a roof above their head.

Every father should do that, right? But I just can’t... by myself, at least.

To supplement my income I tried selling whatever I can sell from our things in the house. With no savings, I knew we won’t last long. So I had to resort to borrowing.

I borrowed money with interests which only worsened the problem. Then I borrowed from some friends... and some other friends... and some other friends. I also borrowed from relatives to keep our heads above water.

In other words, I abused friendship and bloodlines.

As my son finished college, I have fewer friends who want to talk to me, depleted my relatives resources, and I feel that I have developed a thick epidermis from showing my face and borrowing money left and right.

Now that Ralph is finished, I know it wasn’t just me who sent him to college – it were my friends, my sister, my mother, my relatives. In fact, I might actually have a little percentage if the figures were tallied.

So I can’t really claim all the credit. I just had to make sure he’d make it through college... even if it means throwing my pride out of the window.