Back in her country of El Salvador, my mom was at the top of her grade. She was so smart that she passed her older sister and her older brother in school. But everything changed when the war broke out in El Salvador. Her family had to escape and come to America, when was only 15 years old. When she got here, she wasn't allowed to go to school, because my grandparents believed that it was more important for her to work than to go to school. For the next 5 years my mom worked cleaning other peoples houses, along with my grandmother. During this time my mom had dreams of going to school and getting an education, so when she was 19 years she went to the local high schools adult school to get her high school diploma. But while being there she became pregnant with me.
Despite this little speed bump, my mom continued and she received her diploma 6 months after I was born. My moms dream was to go to college and get a degree to become a teacher but that changed when I came she now had a new dream, to raise me and make my dreams come true. Unfortunately for us, my father would make try to make this an impossible dream. My father would always tell my mom that was never going to go to college, that I was going to end up pregnant by the time I was 15 so there would be no point to save money for me to go to college. But my mom being the fighter that she is didnt listen to a word he said and left him.
Because of my mom I was not only able to graduate high school, but graduate with honors. My mom is also the reason why I have been able to make it to college. Anytime that I feel like I cant do something or I feel like I cant go on anymore I think about my mom and everything she has been through and just get the strength to go on. So maybe its not right to say that I believe in strength, its better to say that I believe in my mom.
-Mayra Hernandez