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HAGEN
I like to think that life is like a card game. You're either dealt good or bad cards. If you're dealt bad cards, well then you keep going and try to come on top.
I'd think that I happened to be dealt good cards. My mom and dad loved each other immensely and unconditionally. My dad and my mom both worked together in the business they created.
They started it at a young age. My father was twenty-four and my mother was twenty-two. Despite it's rough start, the company ended up skyrocketing and spreading across the world.
Soon after my mom turned twenty-five, she learned that she was pregnant with her first born. It was a boy, and the boy was me.
Growing up, there wasn't a moment where I didn't feel loved. My dad really was my best friend. He taught me many life lessons and got me interested in football.
I looked up to him and admired him. I admired how selfless he was. He worked hard everyday to provide for our family. He put everyone over his own needs and wants. He was an amazing man, husband, and dad.
When I was seven, my mom found out she was pregnant once again. It was a girl, my new little sister named Chloe.
We were a very happy family of four.
I thought the world was so small. I was on cloud nine and didn't believe that life could be bad. I had no clue of the evil that lurked right around the corner.
In my freshman year of high school, life proved me wrong. I remember it almost like it was yesterday. It was a fairly warm afternoon on a Wednesday in October.
My dad stayed late at the store, while my mom headed home to start dinner for us. We sat around the dinner table, with no sign of dad. We didn't think much of it, as he usually stayed back later at work.
It wasn't until there was a knock at the door around seven. When my mother went to open the door, a police officer was behind it. I couldn't make out what he was saying. I still remember my mother's face; a look of heartbreak, devastation, and emptiness. I watched her break down and crumble as her world fell down on her.
Chloe was only seven, still oblivious to what was going on. I was much older, and though I didn't know exactly what was happening, I knew that it wasn't good.
I was right. This would change our lives forever.
On my dad's way back from work, he decided to stop at a local convenience store. Little did he know that store was being robbed.
