set back but not defeated

By Priscilla Rodriguez Nergrete

This past quarantine, Alexis Abrego, a 16 year old junior at Yerba Buena High School, had to face a very hard struggle that made him appreciate the little things so much more, when his dad lost his job due to COVID-19.

Before this pandemic, Alexis’s father had a stable working job which was called KLA+. Life was simple & he didn’t have to worry about how he was going to maintain his family.

“Before he lost his job, life was better. He would be able to get the days he wanted off which gave us more family time,” Abrego stated.

When this pandemic arrived, it struck his family very hard and figuring out their economic situation started to become a struggle for them.

“We felt scared because we didn’t know what was gonna happen. We could’ve moved from one day to another. We didn't know if we were gonna be able to pay the house rent,” said Abrego.

As a 16-year-old, having to deal with one of your parents being unemployed is very hard because there isn't much you can do to help. You can’t work full time because you have the responsibility of going to school so it's hard knowing you can't help out as much as you want.

However, Alexis and his brother put their all into helping out their dad with his business.

“I would help him out with his job before COVID but not as much. Until he lost his job due to him not having papers. I helped him out more.” said Alexis.

Helping his dad out made Alexis and his brother feel supportive towards his dad. “It made me feel good knowing that I was able to help out,” said Abrego

Of course, it also made his father feel grateful for having such hardworking and supportive sons. He would thank them everytime they would help him.

“He would always say thank you.” “You know right now times are hard and it means a lot that you are helping out. “ said Alexis’s dad.

This experience for Alexis was one to teach him a lesson about appreciating the little things. His dad had a great job before COVID-19 and money for rent and food on his plate everyday. Of course, Alexis appreciated having this even before COVID, but when it hit, it made him appreciate it so much more. It took a while for his dad to get a job again but when he did, he learned a lesson about how to appreciate what he has.