Bogdan is my father. He was born in a small farm town in Poland and always dreamed of coming to the great country people called America. This is the story on how he made that dream a reality.

My full name is Boguslaw but people like to call me Bogdan because apparently my other name is too hard to pronounce. I was born in Zubrzyca Dolna, Poland on August 29, 1968. My family and I grew up on a farm with 3 older brothers. It was a quiet town where everyone knew everyone. If someone wasn’t at church that Sunday, everyone knew about it. It was the kind of town where America was only a dream.
In the mornings I would have to wake up early to feed the chickens and collect their eggs along with walking the cow to where she would sit for the rest of the day. It was difficult but farm life was all I knew. I went to school till I was 18 and then went to work in Germany. In the town I grew up in there weren’t many jobs available to people. It was normal for the men to leave for work in either Germany or Austria, leaving their families behind for weeks only to return for a little. When I decided to leave, it was for good. Instead of traveling back and forth I made the decision to live in Germany long term. All by brothers were grown; having children and starting their lives so I felt no need to visit home for a couple of days just to return back.


Red dot shows where in Poland where my father was born.
Bogdan as a child sitting on a hose with is father.

During my 5 years in Germany I learned all there is to construction working. I worked long hours but made good money for myself compared to those who had to raise a family based on that pay which got me thinking. I asked myself where I wanted to be in five more years. I knew I wanted to be married and have children by then but would I have to live up to the same fate as all the other men who only saw their family occasionally? It would have been one thing if the pay was better but there was no way I wanted a life where I was struggling to make ends meet. I couldn’t work in Germany forever, so one day when I was talking with two friends of mine we came up with this great idea to go to America. We made a plan to live there for a while to make enough money to eventually come back and be able to settle down. We also heard about how great America was so we thought why not find out for ourselves. I remember thinking that if I could survive five years in another country like Germany than America couldn’t be that different. This was where I was wrong.

Once I stepped foot in the U.S. I felt like I could do anything! I was 24 and it was such a rush to step foot in the city of Chicago and see things I had never seen before. I couldn’t believe I was actually here, in America, which was only once a dream to me now become a reality. Little did I know getting there was half the battle. Although I was so excited to be here I knew I had to find a place to live or at least a place to sleep for the night. Before I left my friend gave me an address to where one of his cousins lived and told me they would help me if I went to them. I took the piece of paper out of my pocket and had to ask someone if they could give me directions without knowing any English. After asking several people I finally came across a person who noticed I needed help and also spoke polish. He told me what buses to take and how to get there. When I had finally reached the house I rang the doorbell not knowing if my friends cousin had still lived there. I was so frightened because I did not want to have another horrible encounter with frustrated Americans trying to help me because I didn’t know the language. Looking back I realize how ironic that was being that I was in a country where the language spoken was English. Eventually a man answered the door and I explained who I was and why I had came there. I told him that I didn’t have that much money but if he let me stay here for a month I would pay him back the rent. Then the man introduced himself as Jakub and told me he was not then cousin of my friend but would let me stay. Even though it wasn’t his cousin I was so happy to know he spoke Polish. He then led me down to the basement of the apartment. Jakub told me that I didn’t have to worry about the rent until I got on my feet. It was then when I realized why he was being so kind about the rent situation. The whole basement was flooded and everything was wet. My first night in America I had slept on the only thing dry, a car seat.

Jakub ended up helping me a lot when it came to transitioning into me new life in America. He got me a job at the construction company that he worked at. He also taught me bus routes and where the stores were where I could buy things I needed. I was shocked as to how many places had workers who mostly all spoke polish. I never knew that there existed these huge polish community where there were polish churches I could go to or delis with all my favorite food. It made me feel like I had a piece of home with me but one thing bothered me the most. Here in America I felt like everyone was going through their lives only worrying about themselves. What I mean by that is no one would stop to say hello to other people walking passed or on the buses everyone kept to themselves. I was so used to knowing everyone and realizing others and it scared me not having that anymore. I felt like I could be gone one day and no one would notice. This was my biggest struggle living in America.

I had been living in the U.S. for two years now and I was doing pretty well. I had made friends at work, learned the language, fixed up the basement, which was now sleep able, bought my first big purchase on a car, and met the woman who I wanted as my wife. I had met her at a friends wedding and after dating her for six months, I proposed. Never did I imagine that happening. I always thought I was going to go back to Poland eventually but now I was staying here for good. Now that I was settling down once again I started thinking to myself. I knew that once we got married we would finally start building the family we both wanted but I wasn’t sure if working as a contractor was going to make me happy. Did I come to America to stop here and be a contractor all my life? The answer to that was no. I wanted to be my own boss and strive for something bigger. After getting married I opened up a contracting business. My wife and I put all our savings into it that instead of buying a house, we lived in an apartment space with her parents right below us so we didn’t have to pay for living. It was also then where I applied for citizenship and became a U.S. citizen. After a while the company wasn’t bringing in the profits we wanted so after 2 years, with our second child on the way, we specialized the business to only roofing and metal work. My wife quit her job to help me bring up the business. After a year we had such a profit I could have never dreamed of so we decided to buy a new house.

Bogdan and Barb’s first house
I have now been living in the U.S. for 22 years. After buying the new house, six successful years went by and we decided to move to Park Ridge and have our third child. Three years ago I also purchased a new company and now both businesses are doing extremely well. I never could have been able to dream up of this amazing life I have now. I would’ve never thought that I would be able to take my family on vacations to Poland every year or give them the things I can now. It was all the American dream. People born in America don’t understand how good they have it. They have these wonderful opportunities in reach; they just have to want it bad enough. I am a living example that anyone can do anything, they just need to work, work, work for it. If you want it bad enough it’s yours. When I came to America I wanted an amazing life for my family. Now, amazing doesn’t even begin to describe it.

My father is the greatest role model I know. Being able to see how he made something of himself has always been inspiring to me growing up. I could never imagine doing what he did. Leaving his family behind to a place unfamiliar to him is one of the bravest things I can think of. I hope to become someone like my father for my children one day so they are able to grow up with a wonderful example that I was fortunate to have.