Getting Past the Potholes of Life
？凱文·霍拉維 / Kevin Holloway
When I was growing up in St. Louis， my mother and father stressed to me that in order to succeed in life you must have patience. Take your time and observe all things， they said. I wish I had listened to what my mother and father said about patience. Without patience you will pass up so many opportunities in life！
I wish that I had practiced patience. I used to race through life like a thief in the night without stopping to think of the dangers or consequences of my actions. It’s like I was leaping into the ocean without knowing its depth. It’s times like that I wished I were like a deer frozen in a car’s headlights. Then I would have had at least a moment to think about what to do.
I learned that patience is something you must have because in 1997 I didn’t have the patience to stay in school and finish study. I was so in a rush to skip class and play with my friends that I let my impatience get the better of me， and I let my high school diploma fly by.
I lost my father to a heart attack in 1988. Two years later I lost my mother from a stroke. I wish now that I had taken the time to show them the love they showed me. The biggest thing I noticed was that I hadn’t really paid attention to my life and I didn’t realize how important the people were in my life.
After they died， I went to stay with my Auntie， and I stayed with her for two months before a custody battle began with the courts. They tried to put me into a foster home， but my Auntie fought for four straight months to keep me with her. So now， I still live with her.
Now that I have the patience to sit and learn， I see things differently. For example， I took the time to sit down and make a blueprint of the mistakes and the poor decisions that my impatience caused me over the years.
I have made the decision to return to school， because I got tired of racing through life without an education. I now attend the G. E. D. program at Covenant House in St. Louis， Missouri. Each morning I take a five-minute bus ride to the Metrolink， then a twenty-minute ride to the Grand Station on the Metrolink， then another ten-minute bus ride to get to my class—two buses and one train to get to school each day. I come here because I like the education that Covenant House provides， because the adults take the time to really sit down and help you with the potholes of your life. Now that I have the patience to sit and learn， I see things differently.