By Joseph Eulo

I got up early this morning, 2:AM to be precise, to catch the first bus leaving Atlantic City, headed for Newark. I am Union County College bound, the place where I discovered my potential. I am going to get all of my ducks in a row for the Fall 2008 semester: meet with professors, arrange for a place to live, obtain a job on campus etc.

I am very fortunate to have people in my life that believe in me and see the potential that I have been blinded to all of my days.

I am returning to Union County College to finish what I started almost two years ago. I am going to be the first in my family to graduate college, the first in my family to earn a Bachelors Degree, then a Masters, and finally a Doctorate. Three years ago, I would of never believed it. I thought then that I was destined for failure.

My motivation? I want to set a positive example for my daughter. I want to show her that her father can rise above any circumstance and succeed. I hope and pray for what all fathers hope and pray for: that my daughter learn my mistakes and realize that Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it. In the end it is your Attitude that makes the difference.

My daughter is the reason why I am sitting in a Bus Station in the wee hours of the morning waiting for the ride that will take me to a place where I can explore my true potential. It is a journey that I have been waiting to take all of my life.

By Joseph Eulo

I am sad today, I have been home for twenty-six days and I still have not connected with my daughter. Is she angry with me? She must be. I do not blame her, eight of her twelve years I have been gone. I was lost in my own confusion of who I was, where I came from and whom I belonged to, desperately searching for my own identity, for my father, and my purpose for being alive. I swore to myself a long time ago that I would not turn into my father, but it seems, no matter how hard I tried, I did. Even though he was not around for me when I grew up, I subconsciously became him. So I will say it here and now: Sorry baby, for not being there for your first words. I am sorry for not being there for your first steps, your first day of school. I am sorry for missing all the important things that happened in the early years of your life. I would sell my soul to get that time back. It seems too late, now that you are a teen. The only thing I can be: is there for you when you need me. I love you.