You are my role model, I love you Abuelita.

Congratulations to my Abuelita who passed her citizenship test today!! She immigrated here in the early 1970's when my mother and tias were very young. My grandmother walked for days with three young girls by her side. It was because of her that much of my family arrived to this country safely. This is one of the strongest women I know and she helped raise multiple generations of children. Not even finishing the 4th grade, It is because of her (and many other family member's struggles) that I can benefit from a higher education, a roof over my head and food on my plate. And as many women make the same dangerous journey she did some 45 years ago, today its become even more life threatening to be an immigrant crossing borders. But people do it for their family, just like my grandmother did it for hers. I know fully well that I am daughter and granddaughter of immigrants. If it wasn't for them, it could be ME risking my life for the future of my family, trying to cross invisible lines that separate people. Invisible lines that determine how we are seen, viewed and treated. What a different life I would have if it wasn't for my difficult decisions of my family. Don't forget the struggles of your ancestors because without them, you could not be who you are.

You are my role model, I love you Abuelita.