I have thought of this day for many many years.. the day that I get to leave the place that I have called home for the past 13 years!

I have grown soooo much and I am so proud of that 18 year old that 13 years 6 months and 3 days ago was sent with a suitcase and a pillow on a standby ticket to San Francisco. I spoke ZERO english,  I cried for hours at LAX holding my pillow because I couldn't get in a flight to SFO and I couldn't really communicate with people. I remember it clearly, the last flight to SFO (I think I had lost all hope by then) I was there, crying some more when miraculously I got a spot in the last flight.
I think I kept crying, maybe they were happy tears because I finally got on a plane or maybe they were angry, frustrated, and very annoyed tears at the parents who decided that sending an 18 year old who didn't speak any english in a standby ticket during the holiday season was a good idea. The tears kept flowing that day, even more so when I landed past midnight at SFO and nobody was there to pick me up, nobody even knew I was here!

I for sure didn't have a warm and fuzzy welcome but I think it made me tougher, it made me realize that from now on it was going to be me, alone, figuring out how the world works and how to survive on my own.
These 13 years have been a series of ups and downs (mostly ups) and the life I have created for myself is short from amazing. I am a living proof that you can do whatever you set your mind and heart to.

I am so grateful to this great country (Yes! it is great already!) for all the opportunities, and most importantly for all the people I was able to meet that became my extended family and my source of support. I will be forever grateful (and most of the time I don't even find the right words or expressions to show my extremely high level of gratitude) to all those families that trusted me with their children and that made me feel part of their family. I am grateful for my jobs, my bosses, my professors, and most people I met along the way and it is just so surreal that I am leaving San Francisco... I am for sure leaving a big piece of my heart here!

So the day has come and I found myself waking up with stomach pain and feeling like throwing up, tears immediately started to come down. I have been so busy with work, studying, and spending time with my friends that I haven't had to process my emotions, emotions that probably I didn't want to feel and that I wanted to avoid.

 A couple of months ago I made this conscious decision of leaving the U.S and it's terrifying the fact that I can not come back, that I am not allowed to visit my friends, that if I get tired of traveling I can't take a flight back "home" and sleep in my bed, in my own space... all that is now gone!

My mom always says "El tiempo de Dios es perfecto" (God's time in perfect) and I believe this trip has come at the right time. It is a one in a lifetime opportunity for me to go out and explore, grow, and be free. I have been in school for the last 13 years so it feels good (and well deserved!) to be able to just go and not have to wake up to go to work.

I leave this country very accomplished, I have followed my heart and have dedicated all these years to my passion and love for children. I have done everything in my power to make a positive impact in others and to be a role model for all of those children that came into my life.
I can happily say that I have accomplished my goals, I  studied, I worked hard, I became a Montessori teacher and (as of 3 days ago) I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist!

Now off to a well deserved year off and keep exploring the world!!!!!