My story, part III

RICARDO MERIEDY

Artist/Vendor

Editor’s Note: Ricardo is writing a series of stories about his life and they will be appearing in the paper. This is the third in his latest installment titled “My Story. ”

Remember when I was in the train tunnel? God must have put wings on our feet to bring us out of there. And thank you, Jesus, for getting me out of that agony. I love you for that. Since that day I’ve never thought about going down a train track. I was still so scared for so long that I never mentioned that situation to my family until I was 60 years old. I finally admitted what I’d done to my two sisters.

Back to where we lived while I was growing up. We lived in a large house until I was in fourth grade when we moved into another house in Southeast D.C. Watkins Elementary School was across the street. The house was nice, but it wasn’t as big as the one from which we moved. My father was a good dad. We had a lot of fun in the new house. My four sisters and four brothers would invite friends over for dances and card games on weekends. After my mother died, my father met a young lady and later they had a girl.

After Watkins, I went to Hines Junior High School. It had recreation teams in baseball, basketball and football. I played for them all. I was best in baseball; I played second base for my 12-and-under team. We always won the championship! I was the only son to bring home trophies.

When I was 15 years old in ninth grade my father suffered a major stroke that paralyzed his left side. I had to take a big stand and become a man because by this time my sisters and brothers had children of their own to raise. I graduated from Hines and got a lifeguard job at my recreation center.

I started going to Eastern High School but had to drop out after a year. I didn’t drop out because I didn’t understand the academics. I did it because I had to take care of myself and help my father. I would never have dropped out of school if my father hadn’t had that stroke. If I’d done that for any other reason, he would have knocked my head off my shoulders.