Don Rodrigo resided in a rural farming area in southern Mexico where one family lived on small pieces of land and worked long hours on building things. He was a widower who had huge plans for his young children.
Rodrigo learnt to read very recently, after taking some adult lessons when he was younger. His primary objective was for his twin daughters, Lupita and Dalia, to have a brighter future through school.
When the girls turned ten, Rodrigo made a decision that changed everything. He sold everything he owned, even their straw-roofed house, the small piece of land, and his damaged bike, which was the only thing he used to get extra money by transporting things. He took Lupita and Dalia to Mexico City with the little money he had because he wanted to give them a real chance.
Rodrigo stayed with them and worked at every job he could find. He worked all day and night to pay for their school and meals. He brought bricks to work sites, unloaded produce at marketplaces, and picked up bottles and cardboard. He was always there, even when they weren’t together, making sure they had all they needed.
He said, “It doesn’t matter if I have to go through hard times as long as they have a future.”
But it was hard to keep alive in the capital. Rodrigo used to sleep under bridges using a plastic sheet as a blanket. He didn’t eat for many nights so his daughters might have rice with salt and a few boiled vegetables. He learned how to wash their garments and brush their uniforms on his own. The cold water and detergent would make his hands crack and bleed in the winter.
He merely hugged the girls as they ran away from their mother, and tears fell softly as he said:
“I can’t be your mom, but I’ll be anything else you need.”
Years of giving up things hurt.
He once passed out at work, but remembering Lupita and Dalia’s bright eyes pulled him back to life, teeth clinched. He never told them how tired he was; he just smiled at them. He read books at night under a dim lamp, going over each letter so he could help them with their homework.
Whenever they became sick, he hurried through alleys looking for inexpensive doctors. He spent his last pennies on medications and even borrowed money to make them feel better.
His passion was the fire that kept them warm during every hard time.
Lupita and Dalia were always the best in their class. Rodrigo continued saying over and over again, no matter how poor he was:
“Girls, study.” All I want is for you to have a wonderful future.
Twenty-five years later, Rodrigo was elderly and feeble, with white hair and shaky hands, but he never lost trust in his daughters.
One day, Lupita and Dalia came while they were resting on a little cot. They were confident women who wore clean pilot uniforms.
They clutched his hands and said, “Papa, we want to take you somewhere.”
Rodrigo, who was bewildered, got into a car with them… Then he went to the airport, where he used to do them through a rusty fence and say,
“That uniform will make me very happy if you ever wear it.”
And there he was, with his daughters next to him, in front of a huge plane. They are now pilots with Mexico’s national airline.
He grasped them with a moist, furrowed face.
“Thank you, Papa,” they whispered softly. We fly today for every sacrifice.
Everyone at the terminal was deeply moved by the sight of his kids carrying a poor man in torn sandals across the tarmac. Lupita and Dalia later told him they had purchased him a beautiful new house. In his honor, they also started a scholarship foundation to help young women with big goals, much like they did.
Rodrigo’s eyes had gotten darker with age, but his smile was brighter than ever. He stood up straight and stared at his kids in their beautiful clothes.
People all throughout the country were motivated by his trip. He went from being a bad worker who fixed school clothes under a weak light to having girlfriends who flew through the air. In the end, his love led him to the heavens he had only dreamed of before.
