I was born in Mexico and lived there until I was 10. I had the “perfect” life with the “perfect” family. My dad owned a store and my mom would stay home and take care of my older brother, my older sister and I. We had no financial problems whatsoever, and lived in a nice neighborhood. My dad was my everything, he was the guy who would teach me new things, who would take care of me, he was the one I trusted with my life, all of my friends loved him and so did I, he was my hero. My sister was the one who would study a lot, and would get the best grades. I’m the youngest one, therefore I had no responsibilities at the time, I didn’t get the best grades, and I wasn’t the nicest kid, but I was only 6. My brother on the other side, he was the rebel one. He would do crazy things all the time, he’d never be home, was always out with his friends or girlfriends. He just liked being out and doing whatever he wanted, he was not the most responsible guy, well in fact he wasn’t even close to being responsible, he was the opposite. He would always get in trouble at school, and was the bad boy, well known by his teachers because of the pranks he’d play on some of them; he would always be in detention and got suspended a few times, even expelled. One day my mom and dad found out that he had been ditching school for almost a year, so they decided they had to do something about it, my mom signed him up for school again, and she decided she would go to school with him everyday, so he wouldn’t ditch, they got him a job working with my uncle in his store, besides that my brother was still the same, he’d go out as much as he could, and was still the crazy one.
Life started changing, my mom and dad would always be fighting, there wasn’t a time when they would stop, my dad stopped coming home for dinner and he started having financial problems, so my mom decided to move to the United States, and of course she decided to take me with her, since I was the youngest. I was almost 11; my sister was 17 and my brother 18. Since my family (which I didn’t know until I moved hire) lived here, she decided to live with them for awhile. At the time I thought living here was the worse thing my mom could have had ever done. I didn’t know anyone here; I didn’t even know the language! But I started going to school here, I started leaning the language and my family here became my life. 8 months later my mom received the sad news that my grandfather had passed away, and she needed to go to Mexico as soon as possible for the funeral, since she didn’t want me to go with her she called my brother and he was here the next day. We had it hard when we got here, my mom had to work a lot, and I had to take the city bus by myself to get to school, and I was only in the sixth grade, so having my brother here with me meant having someone important next to me, he would drop me off at school and pick me up, he too would take the city bus. Soon after he got here he got a job with one of my cousins in the construction, it was really hard and he decided he wanted to start working in a restaurant. He had always wanted to be a chef because he loved to cook but never really went for that dream. Soon with the money my mom and my brother had earned from working so hard (my mom cleaning houses and my brother in the construction and then the restaurant) we were able to afford a two bedroom apartment, we felt like it was the best thing on earth because we didn’t have to bother anyone with having us at their house and it was OURS. Things weren’t going too well in Mexico so my sister moved here too. My brother and sister decided to start school again; they had to repeat high school again because their credits wouldn’t transfer. My brother worked and studied hard, he had become a responsible guy who would only take care of his family. He started as a dishwasher at Denny’s but he would ask his manager everyday if he could cook, one day his manager let him but told him that he wasn’t going to get paid more money and that he still had to do the dishwasher work, my brother agreed, soon the manager saw how good he was and made him the cook there. I’d barely talk to my dad and my brother was the one person who was always there for me, he started becoming my best friend, he would teach me everything, and if I didn’t get something he would explain it to me, he would never give up on me. He became my dad and my brother. He would always tell me that if I have a dream I have to fight for it until I get it, he would always teach me about life, and everything I needed to know, help me with school and was just there for me. One day Denny’s closed and he got a job in a really good and fancy restaurant as a cook. He slowly started learning everything he needed to know and soon after that became the sous chef and kitchen manager of that restaurant, he had to leave school because he started working more just so he could help my mom out. My mom too was working really hard cleaning houses and babysitting kids so she could give us a better life. We got a bigger apartment in a prettier place.
My sister did so good in school she got a scholarship to Arizona State University, she also fought for everything, and now she is helping me with my school, so I can go to a University as well. My mom, I look up to her because she has worked hard and even when she’s sick or doesn’t feel good or is too tired, she still works, so she can give us a better life. As for my brother he went from that rebel kid, to the most responsible person, he still teaches me about life and everything I need to know, he teaches me sports and we go out and play, he still helps my mom with the expenses and we don’t live in an apartment anymore, we live in a really big house with a huge swimming pool, in a very nice neighborhood, my brother just had his first kid, but he still lives with us, because he feels like we are his responsibility, he has never given up on me, and I know he never will, he has never disappointed me, and everything I do good is for him, because I want to make him proud, he taught me that I have to fight for what I want and gave me the example of him, he is the only guy I know that takes care of someone like he takes care of me and my sister and mom, and now his daughter, he is now my everything, my dad, my brother, my hero, my best friend, and I know that his daughter will feel very proud of him when she grows up. My dad, well I barely talk to him now, but I know that he is very proud of all of us, and most of all my brother, because my brother is doing my dads’ job and his own dad job now, and his brother job too. Just saying that he is my brother makes me so proud, and just knowing that he will never stop caring about me or leave me, makes me feel safe, I thought my mom had made the worse decision when we moved here, but she knew what she was doing, and now I know that it was the best decision she could have ever made.