MAMA!!!!! you are my best friend and I could talk to you and learn from you and laugh with you and hear every single thought you have on every topic forever. actually, there are few things in the world that I like to do more than that. I learn from you every second. when I am too weak to stand you’ve carried me through my worst storms, when I am overcome with love and joy you live it with me and we talk till 3 am and giggle and scream like schoolgirls, and when I feel frustrated and defeated and lost I look at the woman sitting in front of me and think…. this woman literally came from another country, left everything she knew- her language, her family, her friends, her job- and came to America to fight for the life she wanted with nothing but a little 7 yr old with her Winnie the Pooh journal (DAS me) and the clothes on our backs. I think of the woman sitting in front of me who is not afraid of anything or anyone, who is loyal to the people she loves and defends them to no end, who acts with class and elegance (even if it is not returned), who reminds me our hearts are the loudest sound, who has shown me material things don’t matter…. we grew up just fine without em! and that what matters is true happiness and being who u are. and who tells me “…Cuando la vida te da una patada al culo, es pura fisÃca….eso solo te empuja pa lante!!” I love u mama.