A Mother's Love
- karen mendez
- Glendale
- MÉXICO, 09-10-1992
- 17
- This personal story was submited in English
My name is Karen Yvonne Mendez and I am the middle child of a family of four children. I was born in Toluca, Mexico on May 31, 1991. I now live in Glendale, California I attend Daily High School and am also a mother of an eleven month old baby girl named Noemi. I have committed many mistakes in my life that have hurt my mother, and never once did I think of how my actions were affecting her.
My mother emigrated from Mexico to the United States in order for my sister and me to have a brighter future. My mom was born in Zitachuaro, Michoacán, Mexico; all of her family has always lived there. Growing up my mother's family was poor. They had the basic water, food, and a roof over their head. When my mother was twenty years old she married my father Rafael Mendez. On June 20, 1988 my sister Diana Stephanie Mendez was born in Michoacán, Mexico. My parents endured many hard times together, once I remember my mom telling me they had to sell their television in order to buy us presents for Christmas. My mom began to realize that we did not have a good future in store for us here. So she began talking to my father trying to convince him to move with us the U.S... My dad was stubborn he was used to his Mexico; he didn’t want to leave his family. However he ended up leaving his family anyway; in March of 1992 my father died in a car accident.
My mother went crazy; she had no desire to live. She just wanted to be alone, she wouldn’t even take care of us her children. My grandmother Gloria took care of us. My mom got so depressed that they had to get a priest to talk to her because she was having suicidal thoughts. Finally six months after the death of my father my mom decided to come to the United States with my sister and I. When she told my grandmother Gloria that she wanted to come my grandmother told her is was a good idea but she wanted her to take one of her sisters with her so she could take care of my sister and I. She decided to bring my aunt Gisela. When my father died they gave my mother 12,000 pesos which in dollars are about 1,200 dollars. My mother had a cousin in the United States she called her and told her she needed her to call a coyote for us. So my mom’s cousin arranged everything and my mom ended up paying 5,000 dollars for her, my sister, my aunt, and I. On September 10, 1992 my mother said goodbye to her mom and we left to the airport.
We flew to Tijuana, Mexico, there a man picked up my mom and aunt. My sister and I were with a woman. We both entered threw the port border by car. Fortunately both cars passed, we used papers of other U.S. citizens that were our ages in order to pass. The people that were with us drove us to San Diego there we were reunited with our mother. Another man then picked us up and drove us to my Aunt Sylvia’s house in Glendale. There we began a new life. I love my mother and appreciate everything she has done for my sister and me. I regret putting her through everything I have because she has been through so much. Now that I am a mother I understand a mothers love and I know that if I was put threw the situations my mother went through I wouldn’t think twice about moving to make a better life for my daughter. A mother’s love can not be matched with any other.