I was on my way to Horodok village in Ukraine, near Lviv city area, to meet my biological dad that I have not seen for over 12 years. My mom divorced him when I was eight months old and I never really got to know him. I only saw his childhood pictures; I surely did not regret it. My mom and I were always on our own and never needed fathers help. I remember going to my grandmother’s village because my mom had no time taking care of me due to her steady job and school work. We were never mad at our life, we kept it cool and confident knowing that one day our lives were going to get better.

Throughout the year of 2007, my mom and I decided that we were going to buy me a gas scooter for my birthday. She did not really like idea since she was always worried about me. However, I was a good boy that year, so of course, she couldn’t resist. The economy during those years was slowly getting out of hand, so we chose not to wait and decided to start looking for a gas scooter as soon as possible. At that time, I lived in Lviv, Ukraine. Lviv is about seven hundred and fifty years old; it is fairly unique with its ancient architecture.

Once we realized that an average scooter was selling for about one thousand dollars, my mom became a little more aware of whether or not she was still able to buy me this present, we surely ran into some luck.
When we arrived in Horodok, I couldn’t believe what I saw. It was a complete clone of me. My biological dad looked exactly the same as I did; he was shocked as well. My dad, Nicholas, had a smile on his face throughout the whole time we were at the restaurant. His nose structure was just like mine, he had small ears and a thick layer of hair, more or less my height, and at that time he was 39 years old. We ate some steak, and I told him about my future dream scooter and he asked me, “What kind of gas scooter are you looking for, son?” I replied, “I am not sure at the moment, I did not get a chance to go check it out at a store.” He surely looked like he was going to put in some financial help into this so called “project”. He offered over six hundred dollars, but my mom tried to resist the offer right away. It was like I looked into the water. I knew from the beginning that she was not going to let him just throw money at us. She was sort of mad at him because she always asked herself, “Where was he 11 years ago?” Eventually, my mom accepted the money just because she knew that I have been waiting for this scooter for over a year. A lot of my friends had those gas scooters and it was my dream since I was nine years old.
It was November 7th, 2007, my uncle and I were on our way to a motorcycle shop. In reality, I had never been as excited as I was that day. My eyes were shining, my imagination was running wild, and my indecisiveness kicked in. Once we got inside the store, it was like I lost my manners. I was all over those scooters, there were so many of them that I simply was not able to pick which one I wanted. Not only they were different colors, they were also bigger scooters, smaller scooters, scooter for under one thousand dollars, scooters for over two thousands dollars, all sorts of helmets, gloves, all these extra parts for scooters, pretty much everything you need to be one of the happiest twelve year olds on Earth.
I reinvisioned a memory; it was the smiling face my dad had when he saw me for the first time after such a long period of time.
I felt appreciation towards my dad. I definitely did not regret meeting with him, but I started to ask myself the same question as my mom did, “Where was he all these years?” At the time I couldn’t really answer that question. I always believed in destiny. It is what it is and there is no way around it.
My uncle and I were at the store for over two hours arguing about what kind of scooter should I get. It was kind of hard for me to choose an affordable scooter that would satisfy my wants. I’ve always imagined getting a navy blue scooter, with a passenger seat, bigger wheels, a little trunk in the back, and a top speed of sixty miles per hour. Since competition was a big deal during my childhood years, I wanted to get a bigger scooter than any of my friends had. I guess that was part of the reason why I was looking for the more expensive ones. About an hour later, I made up my mind and chose a scooter that was nearly one thousand dollars, and was painted baby blue color. Maybe it was not exactly what I was asking for, but I was so anxious to ride it that I could not argue with my uncle, and just agreed on what we had. My uncle asked me over and over again, “Are you SURE you want this one?”, and I just kept on saying “YES!YES!YES!”. For a second, I thought I lost my mind, and all I was staring at was this beautiful gift that was ready to be driven. It was shining like a individual pearl on an open Florida beach.
I’ve always wanted to discuss the situation between my dad and my mother, but for whatever reason I just decided to not even get into those questions. I am sure it was not a sweet marriage if my mom wanted it to be over eight months after I was born. Not only that I felt indecisive during my shopping with my uncle, but my mom also did. She told me that my dad tried to fix things up with her but she never really made up her mind. Soon enough, we won a Green-Card Lottery and evacuated this “problem-causing” country, called Ukraine.
I guess I recieved indecisiveness from my mother, and everything else from my father. Do not get me wrong, he is still my dad; I carry his last name. I did not go to visit him in hopes of some financial help, I actually wanted to see how he looks and what he does. He is actually a fairly successful businessman with a solid engineering degree. When we were having dinner he promised me a bright future. In my opinion, promises are nothing more than a great lie. It blows my mind when I put myself into my dad’s shoes and try to imagine how would it feel not to see your son for over twelve years? But then again, where was the effort to show that he actually wanted to see me? I mean, it would not kill him if he made a call here and there. It is something thats in past; good thing we reunited and stayed in contact since ‘07.
I enjoyed my scooter for a little over three months until my friend took it for a ride and completely totaled it. Yes, of course, I was extremely mad. However, the most important thing was that my friend Max, the guy who rode my scooter, was fine overall, just a few scratches and bruises on both of his arms. It was pointless for me to fix the gas scooter due to the fact that I had a flight to United States within a week after the crash. I ended up fixing it up a few years later and selling it for two hundred dollars. I think it worth the money I received for it since the whole body kit of the scooter was smashed into pieces.
One thing I will not do, if I ever have kids, is forget about their existence no matter what the situation is. It is simply selfish.