"Su Amor " by Hazel C

     In her 40 years of life, there have been many impactful events. I know for sure that one of
them happened on December 4th, 2001. At such a young age, she stopped thinking only about
herself, she stopped worrying only about herself. She now had one of the biggest responsibilities
a woman could ever have. She now had to make choices and decisions selflessly, because the
consequences of her actions would not affect her only anymore. As the years passed, she realized
that to take care of her daughter she needed to work extremely hard and try to do her best to raise
a good woman. She knew she was not perfect and she knew it was not going to be easy. But I
can assure you, she definitely did more than that. 
     During my first 14 years of life, my mother always showed me the importance of family
and made sure that I never forgot that my family will always support me unconditionally. She
taught me the significance of respect. She always emphasized the valuable importance of being
humble. She always found ways to make me learn something new, ways to motivate me to excel
in my academics. She taught me how to control my emotions, and how to clearly express my
thoughts in ways I wouldn't hurt other people. She showed me how powerful forgiveness can be,
and how living without grudges is the key to being happy. She even blessed me with a sister. The
only thing she wanted for me all those years, was the best. 
      On July 13th, 2016, both of our lives dramatically changed. I moved to Rancho
Cucamonga and started living with my father. For me, leaving El Salvador was one of the most
difficult experiences I’ve been through. Honestly, the first couple of months were not that bad.
The idea of starting high school in a completely different country was sufficiently exciting to
distract my mind and emotions from the fact that I didn’t live with her anymore. The first couple
of months were full of enthusiasm and anxiety as I had to assimilate to new customs,
academically and culturally. Eventually, I made new acquaintances which later on became very
close friends. Luckily, I can still call some of them my best friends. At home, I constantly
worked on my relationship with my father’s side of the family, people with whom I had never
lived with before. It later started to hit me. The fact that nothing was the same. It did take me a
while to adapt to the community I had settled in. But it was all for the best, it was all for a better
future.
     Over time, I got over all of this. All my relationships, at home and at school, were great
and I had already gotten used to visiting El Salvador every six months. Also, thanks to my
mother's new job she was able to visit me pretty often, which relieved me and emotionally
helped me cope with such a drastic change at such a young age. It's life, you know. I understand
stuff happens. I understand it's a process that many people go through and react to it in various
different ways. However, what I will absolutely never be able to understand is how this woman,
the one that brought me to this world, was able to handle this situation. I genuinely don’t
understand how she was capable of letting me leave and stay 2,000 miles away from her. How
she could go more than one day without holding me in her arms, without yelling at me for
procrastinating and not cleaning my room (I mean, whenever we facetime she still yells at me for
not cleaning it). But that is one more lesson this incredible woman taught me. Regardless of the distance, I can still say that our relationship is the ​most ​ valuable thing I can have in this world. She sacrificed so many delightful moments together, so many cheerful laughs, so many
heartwarming hugs. That’s what this is all about. True love is really about putting someone else’s
happiness before your own. No matter how bad it’s going to hurt, no matter for how long it’s
going to hurt. At the end, as long as the other person ends up happy in a better place, you won’t
mind going through whatever you have to go through. Her love is what keeps me going. Because
her love is patient, her love is kind, her love is not self-seeking, and her love always perseveres.
There’s nothing that I admire and treasure as much as her unconditional and heartening love.