Many people go trough life not knowing what will happen in their lives. It wasn�t any different for me; I didn�t know what was in store for me in the future. I was born and raised in Guatemala, a small tropical country located in Central America, from 1985 to 1995. I didn�t have a great life with my parents as a child, but only because I wasn�t with them. They left the country when I was about two years old. I have regrets about their decision but I can�t go through life blaming them for things they couldn�t help. To think about it, they did move to the USA to give my brothers and me a better life. I am forever grateful for that.

It all began on my ninth birthday party. Many children from the neighborhood showed up. Half of them I had never seen in my life before. But it felt good to be around them because they were so full of joy and happiness. The smell of cake and burning candles spread through the room in a matter of seconds. After blowing my candles out, I had a taste of the sweet, fruit-filled cake that for a moment satisfied my appetite as nothing else had before. A few minutes later everything was over. Everyone was gone. The only things left behind were a bunch of used paper plates and candy wrappers, from the piñata we had busted up a few moments ago, spread all over the ground. However, the party was tremendous fun, especially since those were the only occasions I was aloud to hang out with friends or just interact with other people.

A few minutes later my Aunt Alicia led me to a neighbor�s house.

She asked me something I never thought anybody would, "Do you want to see your parents again." I couldn�t believe my ears.

Even though I had spent the first two years of my life I never remember seeing the features of their faces or hearing the sweet sounds of their voices. In an instant with out thinking I said, "Yes".

"Then you should know they�ll be coming this summer. They might also take your brothers and you back to the USA with them," she said.

I was very young when my parents left so I really don�t remember anything about them. But now I had a chance to meet them in person and see if everything I had heard was true. Such as the fact that they had left to give my brothers and I a good life, something they didn�t have as young people. As a young kid I thought that was the best news I had ever heard. I was as happy and excited as a child going to Disney Land for the first time in their lives. Even though I was excited, it came down to one thing: would I be willing to leave a life full of people I now and have learned to trust to have a second chance at a life with my biological parents? It was a decision I really didn�t make on my own.

The day my parents arrived in Guatemala, was a day like no other. We woke up early in the morning the day before we left to finish packing a few things we needed for the trip. My brothers and I were very excited because we were one day away from seeing our parents again. I wasn�t as excited as my brother, Victor, though. He had spent most of his young years next to my mom; he couldn�t wait to see her again. My father hadn�t been a likeable figure in Victor�s life; he really wasn�t missed as much.

My brothers, my aunt and I arrived at the bus terminal near my Aunt Alicia�s house, which also had a deli kind of store below it. My brothers and I climbed into the bus right after each other and got as comfortable as we could for a long ride through the bumpy road ahead. We arrived in Guatemala City in the afternoon at our Uncle Tito�s house. They were a strange family to me but only because I had never met them before. His wife and kids did everything at their hands to make us feel relaxed at their house.

"Hi, how are you guys?" my uncle asked.

"We are fine Uncle Tito," Victor answered nonchalantly. (Victor used to be the one who always answered every question for all three of us.)

"Would you like anything to eat or drink?" my uncle asked as he walked toward the refrigerator.

"No, thank you Uncle Tito, we are fine right now. Maybe later." Victor answered again. (We had eaten on the bus on our way there anyway.)

"My wife is preparing some food for lunch, meanwhile why don�t you three go play with my kids," he said trying to get us to do something so he could talk to our Aunt Alicia.

My uncle�s kids, who were a few years older than us, played games we liked and did everything to make us feel more at home with them. I remember that their golden retriever had just given birth to puppies so she was very protective. She was a very small and cute dog. Even though she was small we still couldn�t get near them because she was always there. Guatemala is always a hot place except for when it rains, so my uncle had built a little house on top of their roof for the dog to stay while her puppies grew. We went up there sometimes, it was a great view of the neighborhood and it was very soothing because of the breeze.

I enjoyed spending time with new people. At my grandfather�s house not a lot of people came to visit. The people who did, only came around to buy tortillas for their lunch and gelatin for a snack. I felt weird around my Uncle Tito�s family because I had spent a long time not knowing who they were. After playing around with our cousins for nearly half a day, my brothers and I were tired out. We ate our dinner and a little while later went right to sleep.

The sun shone through the windows of the house marking the beginning of a new day and possibly the beginning of a new life.

"Get up lazy bones," my uncle yelled out through the hall. "All those going to the airport hurry up and the rest of you are going to be late to school if you don�t move faster."

We woke after that and got ready to go to airport and get it over with. We ate our breakfast, which consisted of fried beans, fried eggs, bread and just squeezed bright orange, orange juice. A few minutes later, my brothers and I were off to meet our parents at the airport. It was a sunny and hot day outside. The birds were chirping and the sound of the speeding cars polluted the streets as the smell of gasoline polluted the air. We got off the taxi that had taken us to the airport and we headed for the door.

Time had flown by, and I hadn�t noticed my parents were a little late. I thought it was fine. It would give me a little more time to calm my nerves down and stop trembling from all the excitement and anxiety I was feeling at that moment. I was very nervous; I had not seen them in such a long time and since I was so tiny, practically a baby, I was very self-aware. What are they going to think of me? Have they ever thought of me in those six years we have spent apart? Are they going to like me? Am I the kind of daughter they always wanted? Will they be disappointed? These were some of the questions that ran through my mind while I stood there with the world passing by as if someone had hit the fast forward button on a remote control.

All of a sudden my aunt twisted around and pointed to these two figures I couldn�t recognize. They were walking below us toward the door.

"Look, down there," she yelled excitedly. "They�re coming out. Hurry up. We have to meet them at the door," she said nervously.

When I was nine I wasn�t that tall I might have been four feet tall (I really don�t know because at that time I really wasn�t interested on my height). I did notice that they were tall, my mom might have been like five feet but then again she was wearing high heals. My father might have been like five inches taller than my mother. They were very good looking people and like a mother toward her children I felt very proud of them. They had survived six years without anyone�s help, even from their family members.

Our parents hugged and kissed us as if it was the last day they would see us. The fact that we were not children anymore but two young men and a young woman stunned them. It drove my mom to tears because she realized she had missed an important time in our lives. I was saddened by it as well but there was nothing I could do to change that and turn back the clock. My parents were so happy to see us and from what I have learned lately, the memory of leaving us in Guatemala, while they were in the United States, burned in their mind until now. It was hard to get used to the idea that they were and always will be my parents.

It has always taken me a very long time to warm up and talk to people and this was no different. I had so many questions and thoughts in my mind that I wanted to ask them but I never asked a single one of them because I was so afraid they would laugh at me or worst, reject me as a person. The only way I felt comfortable communicating with them was through my brothers, who I have known all my life.

The ride back to my uncle�s house was full of laughter and happiness I had never seen in one place before.

"Everybody take a piece of gum," my mother told us. "Especially you, Victor."

"Thank you mama, I feel like vomiting. Maybe chewing on gum will help," my brother said while sitting next to my mom.

We arrived at my uncle�s house a few minutes after. Everyone attacked my parents with a bunch of questions that were very silly and impolite (at least I thought so).

"How have your lives been in the US?" my aunt asked after sitting down at the table.

"It hasn�t been easy but we have gotten used to the weather and just basic life there," my mom had responded trying not to give too many details away.

"Is it really what people claim it to be?" my uncle asked very interested on what they would say next.

"Well it�s more technologically advanced than Guatemala but for a foreigner it�s kind of hard to settle and get used their traditions." my father said in a deep voice, almost wondering why they were being bombarded by questions.

"I think we should ask you how you�ve been, especially since we haven�t seen you in a while," my mom had said immediately after my father stopped talking. (She was trying to change the subject. Our family has a habit of getting in people�s business.)

My parents were very tired from their trip to Guatemala so after they ate they went to rest for a while. When they left the room we were kept entertained by our cousins who played board games and tried to let us get near the puppies so we could play with them. Of course their mother was there every step of the way so we couldn�t even get near her.

"You guys try to be careful when getting near the dog. We don�t want to get hurt while you are here," my Uncle Tito said trying to be a responsible adult while my parents rested.

We were off to bed soon after; I had to share my bed with some body else because my uncle only had rooms to hold his family.

Going to school had been hard for me in Guatemala. I always heard girls my age talking about their parents and how great or bad they were. How they didn�t let them do most of the things they wanted to do because they were too young or because they just weren�t allowed to. I would always daydream about how my family would be if or when we reunited again. I dreamed of the day I had my parents with me and we would never be separated again. I was very happy the day my parents arrived in Guatemala because I knew my dream had come true. I now had a family who would love and care for each other. We would never let each other down and we would always offer our shoulders to cry on.

Of course the story doesn�t end there. After my parents arrived in Guatemala, we only spent one week getting our papers and passports organized to travel to the United States with no troubles. My parents were only able to spend three months in Guatemala because they had responsibilities and they were due back at work one week after our arrival in the US. The rest of the time we spent going around Guatemala looking for family members to visit and say our good-byes to.

The hardest part of our departure was saying good bye to our grandparents. Is nine years a long time? If it is, I don�t think it�s enough time to live with and share your life with some one you love. I think I would have loved to spend more time with my grandparents and tell them how much I love them (especially because two of them, one from each side of the family, are not among us anymore). My grandfather used to say, "I�m going to throw a big party with firecrackers when you guys leave. The first plane I see I�m going to pretend you�re on it and I�ll wave with a big smile on my face". I knew he was just kidding and that when we were gone both of them would miss us (after all we were the ones who gave them joy and hardships).

We took a trip down to the airport once more but this time we were the ones leaving. We were leaving for a life in the United States. A life that was and has been very different from the life we had. We have learned far more than we ever would have in Guatemala. If we were in Guatemala we would have graduated from high school already and we would have only learned half of what we have learned here. It was hard getting adapted to the change of the weather and new culture but we knew that sooner or later we would catch on. I feel like I have grown as a person. I respect people who are educated in this country because they have a chance that other people don�t. I also believe we shouldn�t take things for granted because the things we have right now are things that other people need to survive in life.

I have been a naïve little girl but I have learned to appreciate life, after all, we only have one life to live. The joy of life isn�t money but appreciating what you have while you have it because tomorrow it might be gone and there is no way to get it back.