10 Years Ago Today I said Goodbye to Everything I Knew

A page in my Journal

09/24/2010 to 09/24/2020

10 to 15 Years Ago I used to daydream. I wanted a red convertible like Barbie. I used to watch Hispanic soap operas everyday after school and I remember I really loved how this one lady looked.
10 to 13 Years Ago I used to sing “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z Ft. Alicia Keys and imagine that I was walking on the concrete streets where dreams are made true.

10 Years Ago today I said goodbye to everything I knew. I said goodbye to my family, friends, neighbors. Not only that, I said goodbye to the language i knew, a culture that was embedded so deep in me.

10 Years Ago today i boarded a plane to the USA with my dad (46 yrs old), mom (36), me (12), sister (10) and brother (6)
I never knew this move would take a toll on me mentally and physically.

10 Years Ago today a teenager landed in Jacksonville Fl. The airport automatic doors opened and the humid air hit my lungs, heavy and hard. Empty lit roads (not street lights but the reflectors on the roads) and no sidewalk, rare. Where are the buildings, why is there no-one in the sidewalks, where are the people?

10 Years Ago today i saw no more mountains on the horizon, nor 10 stories tall building but only suburban houses. There was no people roaming the streets, walking to work/school no buses to take nor neighborhoods with kids.

10 years ago today I lost myself to this change. I was locked in an environment that was so different. I couldn’t speak the language nor understand it. I was locked in myself strumming in my imagination.

10 Years Ago today i was enrolled in a school that was enormous, no more 3 story buildings and one classroom to attend. Different classes and different student.

10 Years Ago in a packed lunch room i didn’t know how to order food so I would just sit in the lunchroom by myself and wait until I got home to eat. No one to talk to, no one to help, no one to understand.

10 Years Ago my math classmates were surprised that i knew where to plot (0,0) coordinates on a graph and the teacher said “math is the same in every country.”

5 Years Ago my friend group was hispanic.
4 Years Ago I graduated high school with college credits.
3 Years Ago I entered college and started bleaching my hair blonde.
2 Years Ago I graduated Florida State College at Jacksonville and transferred to University of North Florida and majored in Finance. |
May 1st I graduated UNF with a Bachelor Degree in Finance.

Now..

10 Years Ago when I landed in Jacksonville I never would’ve thought that I would be here where I am right now.
My first car which was passed down to me by my parents was red, I can write and speak Spanish fluently. If I couldn’t speak or understand English I now am trilingual. I majored in Finance because math is the same in every country and I look so much like that lady i admired and now I am walking on concrete streets where dreams are made true.

When I achieved these dreams I didn’t realize that they became a reality. I didn’t know even know that I wanted them so bad. I only realized years later after they became a reality.

I do not know where I will be 10 years from now but I will continue to dream and work hard.