- I just moved here, like six months ago
and I haven't seen my parents since.
So it's a little much.
- My mother used to be a dancer
and when she had her first child,
she was 21 years old.
She was the right size to be a dancer,
just like, perfect, had a lot of good things
going for her.
She decided to leave behind her life of dancing
to be able to take care of my oldest brother.
- When I was around elementary school
I remember for two months,
we didn't have electricity.
She bought a cooler and she would take
sandwiches from work for me and my brother to eat.
I remember me coming home early and seeing her
eating ice, and with me and my brother's
sandwiches in there.
I wish I offered her my sandwich.
I don't know what I was thinking.
- My dad, he didn't live with us,
but he always made sure to be there.
Always, if I had a baseball game, if I had a basketball game
if I had a play, if I was at church doing something
he was there.
He made sure to be there.
If I ever needed him for anything,
he would be at my house in a half hour.
- My mom sacrificed a healthy worklife
so that I could get a better education
at a school that she would never have
otherwise been able to afford.
Little did I know, she was working with
a bunch of women who were very catty
and totally just disregarded her and her feelings
and were very disrespectful to her.
She was the only black woman in her office.
She recently told me that she would throw up
throughout the day.
She had so much anxiety and she
just didn't want to be there,
but she still soldiered through and I would go visit her
at the end of the school day and she would have
a smile on her face.
Little did I know, she felt like she was trapped.
- So my mom sacrificed finding love,
and being with someone to make sure that
me and my siblings had everything.
My brother, who is the last one, just turned 18.
She was saying that she was like,
"I didn't date all these years"
after my parents got divorced because she was like,
"I want to make sure that I'm there for you all
"and I didn't want to seem like a distant parent.
"I wanted my attention to be 110%"
- She worked this one job, but she had to
work it, like all the time.
I never got to see her.
She used to build the nose on the airplane for Boeing.
She couldn't make it to the sports games
and stuff like that.
She couldn't make it to the open house
when the teacher wanted to talk.
- When it was time for me and one of my sisters
to go to college and coming out of retirement
in order for him to take a job at Power University
for us to be able to go to school
and have our tuition covered.
I'm sorry.
- Mom, dad
- Mom,
- Pops, sweetie, that's what I call y'all.
- My mom's never heard me say this,
so I'll just say it.
- I just want to say, "Thank you"
giving up sleep for me, thank you for
giving up finding love for me.
- I remember you going to sleep
and you would ask us not to bother you.
I didn't understand why you didn't
want any of my attention, and
I've regretted that stuff, but I'm 30 years old now
and I understand.
- I realize now, that your sacrifices were decisions
that once you made them, there was no turning back.
They were decisions that once you made them,
it was truly a commitment to choose us over yourself.
- Thank you for staying together,
thank you for giving up your skating and dancing dreams.
- Without your guidance, without your discipline,
I would have ended up on so many roads and paths
and who knows where I would have been?
- You are, literally, my lifeline.
If you're napping, you answer the phone
and you just want to make sure that I'm okay.
I'm grown, I'm not a child and you don't have to do that,
but it's still in your heart to wanna make sure
that your only daughter is in one piece.
- It's kind of taught me to be a lot more selfless
and I hope to be just as selfless as you are.
- When the time comes, I'll have to hold that torch.
I'm gonna make you proud, because I have an example
of what to do.
- I love you so much and
I don't say it enough to you,
but I love you so much.