Ryan sat next to his mother at the kitchen table while she juggled the bills—her, balancing the checkbook and him, diligently finishing his homework after making sure his little sister got hers squared away, too. At that table, Ryan learned that it isn’t what you have that matters. It’s what you care about that is priceless.
With his father absent during his teenage years, Ryan’s mother and grandmother taught him what do-your-part resilience looks like. They worked together as a family, each person pitching in to help the others. Ryan often picked up his youngest sister at school on his bike and cared for her in the afternoons. It was a hard road. Many days, it seemed like the strain would be never-ending.
