It has been a few months since my last post, but I am back with a few updates and advice to anyone that may want it. In my previous entry I stated how important it is to keep your job in today's job market and that I had given up mine at the Martin Luther King Library at Los Angeles City College. Fortunately for me, I was able to reach out to my former boss, Barbara Vasquez, Library Chair, and she willingly went through the steps to get me reinstated as a library staff member. I am greatly in debt to her and her diligence. I had been given a new assignment, which took some getting used to, but is much more exciting than my previous one. Thank you Barbara! I hope you get well soon!
In another, less cheerful event, I am no longer a family man. My now ex-fiancee Brittany and I are no longer together. We had a paternity test done on our daughter, Rikki, and it came to show that I am not her biological father. While I love her as my own flesh and blood, Brittany does not want me as a part of their life and has moved on. I find it selfish on her part, but I am confident that it will all play out for the better in the future. Rikki is a wonderful and highly intelligent little girl, and I am sure that she will grow to be a beautiful and successful woman. The grieving on my part is mostly over and I am ready to grow and learn from my experience. Some advice that I can give to anyone that may be in a situation similar to mine is that you should put the child first. While it may be infuriating to find that a child you were raising is not yours, and despite the love you have given, the mother no longer wants you in that child's life, remember that the environment in which the child is raised in will affect their lifetime development. No child should be subject to a hostile home environment (which ours was becoming) and the most fair thing to do is let them go. Life lasts for lifetime. There may be a time when Rikki wants to know a father and if her mother chooses to tell her about me, then I would love to know her, but if not, I will have to continue not having her in my life.
None of what had happened is necessarily bad, just damaging to one's morale. But, morale can be risen, which mine has. I sleep well knowing that Rikki has a place to live and a family to love her which is all I really want. I too have the time to grow and the experience to share with others that may be going through a similar event. My main advice to those in my shoes are to let go and love your life. You have been granted the time to do things that you enjoy and are free of any attachment that may limit your potential happiness. Continue to live, not with hate, but with love.
-David Barton
