My kids, my heroes, single parent can also be a single dad.

This might be a touchy subject for some females, but maybe I can level up the playing field a little bit for all the single dads out there? It could also be a weak argument, because some of the dudes I grew up with back in the day, use to brag about having kids with different girls. They thought it was cool back then until the state started going after their wages for child support. When my ex-wife left me in 2009, I had custody of my two children, age nine and eleven years old. At the time, I owned a successful Cambodian restaurant on the Eastside of Providence, Rhode Island, located close to Brown University.

It was devastating to me and more importantly, I cried and felt suffering for my children because they had to grow up without a mother. This made me more determined to succeed and not fail as a single dad. Thank God, I had my Italian parents, sister, and my oldest daughter that were always there for me and my two children. To this day, I still feel bad for my second daughter who had to endure the anxiety of seeing all her friends laughing, joking, and having their moms around them through all the milestones a typical daughter would go through in life. My son was a little different because he was two years younger and not as mature as his sister was. I made sure and tried my best to spend as much time with my son as possible and got him involved in organized sports with his friends. My two children were very close to their Nonna and Poppa and they made sure that my kids were involved with all the extra activities. This was very helpful for me, my parents and sister were the family foundation for my two children, especially my sister who stepped up and filled in as the mother role, allowing me to work and keep the business running. I rented an apartment about a mile down the street from my parents house which was convenient for me to pickup my kids after the restaurant closed because living at my old house didn't feel right emotionally for me at the time.

As my two kids started to get older, financially, it was starting to get overwhelming and I had to figure out and find other ways to make more money to support my two children. I felt to proud asking my parents for money because they were already doing enough as it is. Business was starting to winddown due to multiple competition in and around the neighborhood. You can only eat Asian foods so many times per week but I was lucky and determined not to fail as a single dad. With the cost and expense of hiring and training employees, having to replace them once they leave, I became the owner and chef of my restaurant, cutting huge wasteful spending. This was possible because it was the time when the online delivery business became popular for local restaurants, and very convenient for students and locals to order foods online. It was a no brainer, I concentrated and focused on the delivery side of the business which was easy and wasn't too bad handling all of the cooking myself with the help of my girlfriend. Doordash and Ubereats provided their own drivers, and all I had to do was cook orders that was coming in by fax machine.

The online food delivery boom was exactly what I needed, it paved the way towards closing down my lunch business and just concentrating on the dinner hours when more people are home and looking for fast foods to be delivered. During the day, most students are too busy in their classes and there were many other food establishment options in and around campus for me to compete with. Closing the lunchtime hours was an easy thing to do, cutting even more wasteful spending, which made it possible for me to diversified my time and find other ways to support my two kids. One of my ex-lunch customers who became a good friend got me a daytime job at a private school doing maintenance work.

The timing was right and things seems to always workout for me, not only did the popular online food delivery was booming, but also the explosion of the ride share app that got my attention. I bought a used Toyota Matrix and downloaded the ride share app and started driving for Uber to make more money mostly after closing the restaurant down from Thursday night to Sunday night mostly up in the Boston areas. But wait, it gets better, I had made one of the best decisions in recent times. The opportunity came and I ended up buying the building that the restaurant was in, a mixed use building with an apartment upstairs. It was located just one building in from the very popular main road. The additional apartment upstairs, which was rented out to Brown University students, provided additional rental income. My CPA and friend had told me about a new rental option called AirBNB. Being skeptical, I was happy with what the students were paying me for rent but I was glad that I followed the advice of my CPA. After all the students moved out when they finished school, I started to do AirBNB and couldn't believe the difference in the money I was making. If you just rented one room out minimum ten days a month at one hundred dollars times three rooms, it was way more than renting out the whole apartment monthly to students. Talking about having a rabbit foot in your pocket, this was financial freedom.

I was working four part-time jobs cooking, driving Uber, doing AirBNB, and working at the school. All my jobs supported all my expenses and bills that included raising my two children, paying for private catholic high school tuitions, buying them cars as they got their licenses, and paying college tuitions. Like everything in life, nothing last forever. The Covid-19 pandemic came and I was forced to close the restaurant, give up Uber after over ten thousand rides, and stop doing AirBNB because of new regulations. Today, everything is all going well, kids all graduated and working, and I'm still working for the school and collecting rents from my building.

A parent's love for their children is very special and the commitment to stand by them never ends. Also, I want to acknowledge my Italian family, sister, and my oldest daughter for being there for me when I needed them most. My girlfriend who stepped into my life at the right time and giving me the support throughout my vulnerable times. And lastly, to all my wonderful friends who cared and understood me, your compassion for other people will lead to peace on earth.

My son and two daughters

Good times together with my two kids

My girlfriend and I in traditional Cambodian clothing