#22: My story of reaching my dream

     Friend, I am telling you my story to assure you ( تا به شما اطمینان دهم ) that you can get through dark times. When I was 10 years old my step-father (پدر خوانده) began sexually abusing ( سوء استفاده جنسی ) me and my younger sister. Our family moved ( ما حرکت کردیم ) from town to town, never living long anywhere. My stepfather did not want us to become friendly with neighbors or teachers or any- one who could help us.
     I never completed (هرگز تکمیل نشد) a single year of school in the same ( همان ) town. Many years the children in my family did not complete (کامل نشد) the school year at all. Sometimes we were homeless ( خانه به دوش ) and lived in an old school bus ( اتوبوس مدرسه قدیمی ).
But I was always a good student and I always loved to read and write.
     When I was 16, I won an essay contest
( من در مسابقه مقاله نویسی برنده شدم ). My essay was the best in the entire state! Because of this award ( جایزه ), I got scholarships to good colleges. But because of my step-father's abuse ( سو استفاده کردن ), I had a baby when I was sixteen. I had to leave high school and turn down ( امتناع کردن ) the scholarships 
( بورسیه تحصیلی ) from colleges.
     After my daughter was born, I stayed home with her for 3 years. I thought that my dreams of a college education would never come true. But when I was 20 I started college! It wasn't a famous college like those I had dreamed of, because I didn't have a high-school diploma ( دیپلم ). But I did so well there that I was accepted for graduate school ( من برای تحصیلات تکمیلی قبول شدم ) at U.C. Berkeley. It is one of the most famous and respected ( احترام ) universities in the world. I finished my graduate degree and started to work at the same university. I worked there for 30 years in a job that I loved.

     My beautiful daughter was once the innocent shame ( شرم بی گناه ) of my childhood (  دوران کودکی). Now she is the shining light ( نور تابان ) of my life. She is loving, successful ( موفقیت آمیز ), very intelligent and a very caring person
( یک شخص دلسوز ).

     Even when dark days come, friend, try to persevere ( استقامت کردن ).  Brighter
days
( روزهای روشن تر ) are not gone ( نرفته ), even though ( بااینکه ) you cannot see them now.

Your friend, Alix

 

 

 

 

 



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