image generated using Gemini AI
Gabriel was the second child of his parents; he was always happy and would make everyone around him smile. Gabriel will always keep a smiling face, and because of that, people call him Smiles. He was very intelligent and was also a smart boy; he was kind and cheerful, and would do everything in his power to make the people around him feel loved. He had 2 elder sisters and was the last of his parents.
Whenever Gabriel saw an aeroplane flying across the sky, he would run outside, covering his eyes to prevent the sun from shining in them as he watched the plane disappear into the clouds. He loves aeroplanes so much so that with no shadow of doubt, he knew he was going to become a pilot in future. To him, the sky was going to be his home, where his imagination came to reality.
Adulthood will arrive at Gabriel's doorstep without prior notice; he will come to understand that life was never smooth sailing as he comes face-to-face with it.
After his secondary school, it was time for Gabriel to enroll into the aviation school. Gabriel was happy that he was soon going to the aviation school to study and later in the near future, become the pilot he had dreamt of becoming. Gabriel had hustled hard for money and registered for his exams, and would later pass with flying colours. Gabriel was offered admission to start in the coming session, and it was time for him to go for his registration.
Since it was his dream of becoming a pilot, none of his siblings or parents knew the cost of tuition for aviation school, and Gabriel was still young that, amongst all his research, he forgot to conduct research on the fees and to discuss a plan with his parents. His illiterate parents were there to support all his decisions, but were also not educated to understand that the cost of tuition was exorbitant and needed planning.
Gabriel realised that being a smart boy was not enough to pay for his aviation dreams, and his sisters had their own challenges that they were facing at the time, and he wouldn’t want to be a burden to them even if he could.
As a result, Gabriel had to pick up a job to gather money to sponsor himself through school. He was fortunate to get a job at a logistics company where he was given a motor vehicle to dispatch mail and pickup mails for dispatch.
Gabriel will realise that adulthood was way different from his childhood days; it was not difficult for him to get what he was looking for. He had strong parents who made sure he had everything he needed. Never in his life did he know that he had always been sheltered by his parents. He had a straight life, but never had to face the realities of life until now.
During these difficult years, it was a period of testing for his character. The smile he always gave for free had become scarce and expensive; he would smile in reflex to joy, but in his adulthood, it became something he chose to do.
Gabriel even in his trying times choose to be kind to everyone, even when his colleagues were tired and angry, Gabriel was always there to bring laughter amongst them, he had come to understand that everyone was facing one challenge or the other in this adulthood and his job as a human was not to make them feel worse and unhappy, but to relief them from their pains in any way that he can.
One evening after Gabriel had finished his shift for the day, he was caught looking at a passing plane by a senior colleague, and the senior colleague asked him if he was still wishing to be up there someday. I used to think that being a pilot was all about escaping the ground when I was still a child, Gabriel said quietly. But I have come to realise something. A pilot's real job isn't just to fly; it's to carry people safely through the storm and bring them back down to earth gently.
Gabriel never lost hope in his dreams; it only took him more years longer than he had expected to achieve his dreams from when he was a child, but he was able to save up from his day job and could have enough to put himself through school in the end. Adulthood had taught him patience and resilience.