E.J. Mira '20 Recruiting Profile

The parent picture was not something I thought about before the 7th grade. I was the child of a teenage mom in a Christian Latino family. Growing up I lived with my grandma and aunt because my mom was not financially stable. My father was never really part of the picture and there were times in my life where he would show up but then disappear for another six months. My mom was 17 when she had me and my dad was 20, yet since my mom’s family was Christian, they didn't believe in abortion, so my grandma raised me. I would go to work with my grandma, who is a nanny for a nice family in Manhattan Beach. I made one of my closest friends there and I always saw him with his dad and the connection he had with him, yet at that age, I never wondered where my own father was. 

I continued through elementary school and soon graduated in 2014 and that is when my life started to change. I moved into a small apartment with my mother because she was more financially stable and I was moving to a new school. Moving, I realized I didn’t really have a fatherly figure to look up to or to give me advice when things were changing in my life. I tried to fill the void through male mentors like teachers, coaches, and older friends, but deep down I still felt the void as if it was not enough. I would see my teammates’ fathers at games cheering them on at the finish line and congratulating them. My family was always working so it was difficult for them to show up to my games or any of my events and I desired a father figure in my life, as if all that my mom had done wasn't enough. This was all I thought until September 18th, 2015. That day I got a text that my aunt was going to pick me up from school which was odd because I normally skate home. She picked me up and she said that my mom was in the hospital because she had a stroke. My heart dropped to the ground, emotions running me wild. I sobbed while seeing the cars on the freeway flash by my eyes, everything going in slow motion. I got to the hospital and stood at the entrance for ten minutes wondering why it had to be my mom, why did she deserve this and it took me those ten minutes to realize I never needed a father because my mom was my everything and I was so close to losing her. It was difficult seeing my mom in a hospital bed, half of her body limp, barely able to say my name not being able to raise the entire left side of her body. I put on a straight face for her, trying to make her feel better and not worry about me, yet it was killing me to see her like in a hospital. It was at that moment when I promised myself to push myself to my max to make my mom the proudest woman. I push in my academics, in my sports, in my daily life to make her the happiest woman I can possibly make her. It has become my life goal to show her what she has done and give some back to her. To be the first one to go to college, the first one to get a scholarship, to win a trophy for her, to love her with my entire heart. Thanks to my mom I have the motivation to continue on and know that I will always prosper and work hard to make her the proudest I can.