My daughter was born 32 days before my 19th birthday and, as you can imagine, the 18th year of my life was filled with dread and confusion. I had no idea what to do and all I could think about was my crazy family and my crazy childhood. Everyone in my family was hoping that my soon to be wife would get an abortion, they thought we were “stupid” and “morons” and all sorts of other colorful things. No one seemed the least bit happy that they were about to have a niece, grandchild, cousin; none seemed to care about a human life. I never knew my dad too well, he had me at 18 and walked out 3 years later after my sister was born, he had always paid child support and would see us occasionally. This was the man I felt compelled to talk to not because he was a great father but because he did what he had to do. I was wrong. He told me how my birth ruined his life. He said he was telling me this man to man and we haven’t spoken since. My daughter will soon be six and is every bit of wonderful. I smile everyday now :)