I Will Show You True Love

I once read a quote that said “the road to success is not easy to navigate, but with hard work, drive and passion, it’s possible to achieve the American Dream.” As I read this quote, the first person who came to my mind was my dad.

My dad’s name is Ricardo. He was born in Monterrey, Mexico on May 28,1970. At the age of 15 he began working as a mechanic. He saw my mom, Sandra for the first time at that age as he was walking to school one day and my mom was walking to the store. My dad stopped going to school at his second year of middle school and he would spend his days working nonstop. My dad and mom lived in the same neighborhood, just one street away from each other. My dad told me that as the years went by, my mom would always walk by his house when he was working on cars since my mom would always walk to school. Since everyone knew that he liked her, he told me that when my mom would walk by, his friends would sometimes call out his name “Ricardo! Ricardo!” and my dad would come outside rushing thinking that probably something bad had happened. When he would get outside, he would always smile and blush since he noticed that the only reason they would call him was so that he could see my mom. At the age of 19, he finally talked to my mom one day as she needed help with her car and my dad was known as the mechanic of the neighborhood. Months later, they decided to date, but their lives took a different route when they decided to break things off since they were both really young. They would know about each other’s lives since they have some of the same friends.

Years later,my parents saw each other at the flea market and my dad decided to approach her. My dad came to found out that my mom was in an abusive relationship .In that relationship my mom became a parent. She informed him that her partner would get home drunk sometimes and he would get home late. Her partner had multiple affairs and when my mom would question him about it he would sometimes hit her or throw her to the ground. My dad knew that my mom needed to get out of the relationship.

One day my parents went out and my mom’s partner saw them in front of a restaurant. He began to punch my mom and my dad quickly defended her by fighting him back. At the end her partner threatened her and he left. My parents realized that if my mom didn’t get out of that relationship then things would get worse. My dad told her that if she escaped with him then he would take care of my brother as if he were his own son. He would continuously remind her that no one deserved what she was going through especially her because my parents had always loved each other. My dad would always tell my mom that his dream was to come to the united States to have his own house and build a family.

It’s been 20 years and my dad’s dream came true. As I'm writing this I am looking at my parents watch TV together as my dad is answering my questions. My brother is also with us. He was correct. He did raise my brother as if he were his own son. He has done everything to keep this family together. He has worked in 30-degree weather and even 100-degree weather, just so that we could have the life that we now have. I’ve never been more thankful to have the family that I have. He mentioned to me that when they first arrived here they lived in a small home which they were renting with no furniture only a bed. We now have our own home where we have everything that we need. We have always been very united. He says that coming to Texas was the best choice he could have ever made. As the quote said, the road to get here was not easy but my dad says that he did reach the American dream and his true love, my mom. My family really is my whole world.

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My name is Ivonne Orozco. I am a student at St.Mary’s University majoring in Sociology to become a lawyer. I am proud to say that I am a student of immigrant parents who came to the United States to begin a new life.

Posted April 11, 2019

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