My Dreams In My Life

Thousands of people move in order to pursue their interests and desires or even have a better life, however, I got bombarded with this experience when I was only 7 years old. I was an inexperienced adolescent who valued nothing but life’s necessities. My youthful self had no ambitions, no dreams, and no aspirations, I was simply happy with the little life has to offer. I was too young to comprehend but now as I’m looking back, I now realize my life changed the instance my parents informed my siblings and I that “we are going to America.”

There are not many times in someone's life where the pain and fear is unbearable to handle. No one knows what your feeling on the inside, but they say they do.  The first time that someone experiences the real world, it is the most uncomfortable feeling ever.

“I have a dream’, the words of Martin Luther King jr rang out over the crowd, ‘that one day my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their characters.” King continued on to deliver one of the most profound speeches of the 1960s, creating a movement that swept the nation. He was one of many people who understood the power of dreams and the potential they had if brought about. I believe that dreams have the power to change nations through my personal observations, experiences, and understanding of Scripture.

Do you ever dream of being the richest person on earth. I do but unlike everybody else dream my came true. It was 11:30 am Tuesday July 5, I was just a boy who dreams big things. It's a very hot day and I needed to hurry and get on a ship to go to Chicago and make my dreams come true. I was running so fast my shoes were starting to burn like a volcano. I'm running and running and I finally make it to the boat and this man says

Every week would be something new: good or bad. As I was growing up at the end of the week my grandparents, whom I had lived with, would make my sister, brother, and me milkshakes and we would sit outside, look at stars, and talk about how our past week went. When it was occurring I had just thought of the delicious milkshake that I would enjoy and the wishes I would make, but I had recently realized that is what laid the foundation of who I am today.

I grew up in a poor neighbourhood. The town my parents decided to raise my brothers and I wasn’t a place where you had the means to pursue your dreams. My parents were young and naive thinking that they could raise a family at such a young age. Although we had a place to sleep and food to eat, we were barely getting by. Coming home every day from selling snacks in front of the local school, my brothers and I were greeted with my mother’s smile but we could all tell the twinge of sadness hiding itself behind her smile. Growing up in a poor neighbourhood, the kids around the block knew each other very well; we could understand each other because of our situations. In some nights the neighbourhood kids would gather around the abandoned house just around the corner from where I lived. We would talk about our dreams of going away to the city and our unrealistic hopes of becoming a millionaire overnight. We all knew that was impossible, but one can dream.

Ever since the very beginning of my life, it feels as if everything has always been surreal.  My dreams and goals all took a long time to come together but they were definitely worth the wait; everything started to take shape during my first few breaths.  Thirty minutes later into being born a day early, I was born to my mother, delivered by more than seven doctors, across the street from what is now my dream college.  I was what both my parents enjoy to mention as much as possible, a very difficult child ever since birth; as I had independently decided I would rather be different and special, and I came out sideways.  Which, due to my ingenious acts my mother who was surrounded by doctors, was in the best hands.

For as long as I can remember acting has been my passion. There is nothing more exhilarating than getting on stage and performing. I will never forget the time in middle school when I had my first real performance. My hands were drenched in sweat, my body was shaking, everything was frozen, until that big red curtain open and I went off. In that moment I realized, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

College usually is a hard concept to grasp, especially to a freshman. Being a freshman myself, my life has been like a rollercoaster since college started and I keep going through the same loop. But being pushed too quickly, too fast, can sometimes make you lose yourself and  the reasons why college was right for you. I honestly thought that when I went off to college, I was finally able to be that adult I have been wishing for since I was sixteen. As incoming college freshmen, we firmly believed that we had a sense of entitlement, that we were grown, and no one could tell us what to do.  However, that came to a halt for me when I realized that I was starting to slowly lose myself being on this big campus.

The idea of flying has terrified me since a young age. Being in a metal bird, thousands of feet above the ground, consuming me from one location to the next, doesn’t sound appealing. A pilot, who I could only hope knows exactly what he is doing, has my life in his hands. When I found out I would be taking a helicopter to prom instead of a nice car, I believed I was having a nightmare. The one where I’m falling endlessly, spinning out of control, until I am jolted awake. The thing which is my biggest fear in the entire will be my transportation of choice for one of the most memorable nights of my adolescent years.

After the long tiring day of work I thought I should take a nap. So I took a shower and went into my room for the nap. When I got into the bed I layed down and closed my eyes. As I started to fall asleep I hoped to have a amazing dreams . I fell into a deep slumber as the dream began to form.

There is something about the way Steamboat looks when our car first pulls to the top of Rabbit Ears Pass that ignites happiness inside of me. It’s perhaps the prettiest and most favorable view of mine, with the crystal-like lake on the left, the snow-covered evergreens on the right, and my favorite town in the world straight ahead. The freshly fallen snow glistening in the street lights and the cute little houses all lined up in a row never cease to bring a smile to my face. On this trip specifically, I sat there looking at the town below with the biggest smile on my face and excited butterflies in my stomach. As a child, seeing Steamboat felt like Christmas morning because it truly reminded me of some of my happiest memories.

I am a person who is heavily influenced and defined by what I have experienced throughout my life. A particular occurence that has heavily influenced who I am and the person I am continuing to grow into is the experience of being supported by my friends when I was struggling with who I was and what the purpose of being where I am while I am here. I have struggled with trusting others and being comfortable with who I am as both an individual and how I fit into the bigger picture of my life. The love and support I experienced when I needed it most changed my perspective and outlook I have on myself and other people. Through this particular part of life and the experiences in it, I have begun to grow and develop into a person who is able to be happy and appreciative of what they possess and lack in relation to others and become involved in improving the world whenever I can.

I was the first born in my family. I am the oldest of 20 great-grandchildren and 13 grandchildren; I’m the first of my generation in my family. With this being the case, I was often put in situations where it was just me and a bunch of adults. I am very grateful for this because, now, I can talk to adults and strangers very easily. Through these experiences, I have been able to have conversations with all sorts of people. I have heard stories of great success and of grand failures. In my experience, the wisest people are those who had awesome success without losing the meaning or true happiness of life. In my life, I have had two people who were real mentors to me, Jeff Sandefer and Gretchen Anderson.

Santiago, my boyfriend, passed away during my first semester at college. I was away at school and couldn’t make it on time to see him in the hospital one last time. My plane landed probably just as he was taking his last breath on the operating table. At that moment, I had felt as if half of me had died along with him. Life very quickly forced me to encounter difficult tasks in my life; a death of a loved one is one that not many learn to overcome. It is a reality not many truly know how to manage or if it is even manageable. Four years ago, at that very moment, I had lost hope on dreaming. I didn’t want to dream anymore because I felt like it had led to nothing the first time. I had dreamt of one day spending the rest of my life with Santi, but that dream had died along with him. At that moment I couldn’t see any dream ever coming true anymore. But just as life can throw us some curveballs, it can also teach us how to aim for them and send them flying away very high.