No life insurance Meant Learning to No

[ Editor's Note: John received a scholarship of $ 5,000 Life Lessons for this test it submitted in life happens. We thank him for sharing his story. ]

I was 4 years old when my father was diagnosed with lung cancer in the terminal phase in April 00. He died two months later on 10 July. My life would be changed forever.

I only remember bits of my father, not as much as I would like, but there are pictures of him in our home and in family albums, and my sincere mom stories which help with my memories.

My mother never remarried, and I'm an only child, so it was just the two of us for the last thirteen years. She never let me feel sorry for myself, but instead we celebrated the life of my father. Watching my mom working so hard to give us a good life taught me that no matter what life throws at you, you can overcome and soar.

My father did not have life insurance, and life after death was a major financial struggle for my mother and me. My mother worked all the time just to pay the bills and keep the house my father built for us. Life was hard, and there was the constant threat of losing the house.

From a young age, I learned to do without, and this soon became the standard. I worked hard in school and around the home to help relieve some of the enormous stress and burden on my mother. Even when I was very young, I could see how stressful and difficult life was for my mother, and I did not want her to have to worry about too.

My father did not have life insurance, and life after death was a major financial struggle for my mother and me.

life insurance would have certainly helped to get us back on our feet after the death of my father. It would have helped pay for my mother to go back to school and helped with the mounting bills. It would have eased the stress that comes with worrying about how to pay for groceries and bills. Life insurance would have been a godsend. I learned that unexpected, and sometimes change lives, things happen in life and life insurance can match the security and peace of mind. It is a necessity!

My mother hated working long hours because it meant that I would be high in the center and eventually become a key to child. She could not bear the thought of that! She quickly made the painful decision to spend our savings to go back to school and get a teaching degree and teach from. However, teachers' pay is low and did not follow the cost of living, so that we still live paycheck to pay-check, who often go without.

We could never get caught up financially.

If my father had bought life insurance, things would have been very different for me and my mother. Because there was no life insurance, we could never get caught up financially. During all these years, after paying the bills each month, there was nothing left over to save for college, or anything else for that matter. Now, the college looked me straight in the face, but there is no money for it.

My mother taught me the value of education for example, and I worked hard to overcome the difficult moments and excel in school. I was accepted to one of the best engineering schools in the country, Texas A & M. I hope you will consider me for a scholarship Life Lessons, and if I am selected, I will continue to work hard to succeed in life. Thank you for allowing me to share my story

[ 2015 Update John :. Much has happened since I received the scholarship Life Lessons it a year ago. I finished my first year as an engineering student at one of the best engineering schools in the country, Texas A & M University. My future is bright and I am excited about life! The Life Lessons scholarship played a big role in putting me on the path to achieve my dream of becoming a petroleum engineer, and I am eternally grateful. I am now 19 years old and he was 15 years since I lost my father to cancer. It was pretty hard to lose my father, but because he had no life insurance, financial struggles affected my life in a way that I imagined. Life insurance is only important if you need to use it, but the kicker is, you never know when the time is. My father was young and healthy and do not think he needed life insurance; however, life could have been very different if he was thinking of buying a life insurance policy. ]