Personal Narrative: Puerto La Cruz

Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, a place where tourists come from all over the country to enjoy the sun, the beaches, the islands, and the coral reefs. Puerto La Cruz was a getaway for a lot of people, just some place to go on vacations and have a good time, but for me it was my home. The spring of 2014, by that time every morning when you walk outside your house you can feel the sea breeze and even when it’s cold, you close your eyes and smile, because it warms your heart. Now if I close my eyes, all I can do it’s relive that moment over and over again. The moment when only six words coming from my mom’s mouth felt like a thousand knives in my heart and changed my life forever. “We’re moving to the United States”. So I was there, sitting at the
kitchen floor, trying to process everything and I couldn’t say a word. My mom said to me with a broken voice “It’s for the best, don’t worry, we’re going to be alright”, I looked at her while the tears rolled down my face and I said “Yes, I know we’ll be” but I was lying, I wasn’t sure at all. My sister came out of her room and asked “What’s wrong?” and before I could say anything, my mom answered “Nothing, my love”. I don’t remember anything more from that day; I guess I blocked it from my memory. The weeks past, I couldn’t concentrate in classes; my mind was constantly worried about how it would be to go to class in a strange country with a strange language. It was the first week of June and I was taking my finals early because “I was going to visit my grandparents”. I was a sophomore in high school and on my last day, I sat down with my friends just talking about anything and laughing, the only thing they knew it was that I was going to change schools; it killed me when one of my best friends hugged me and told me “Don’t forget to visit us”, I did my best to hold on to my tears and I said “I will, I promise”. The day came, June 21st, 2014. As we were waiting in the airport, my hands couldn’t stop shaking, I was dizzy and I felt so cold, but the truth is that the temperature was fine, it was just me. My sister was crying a lot, she wasn’t going with us because she was in the middle of her career at the university and she didn’t want to leave, so she was going to stay in our house and my dad, who lived half an hour away, would occasionally visit her. When the time to leave came, I didn’t even looked at my sister because I knew that her beautiful hazel eyes would show me her broken heart, I just hugged her. My mom and I left our home, everything we knew. Five hours later, we arrived at the Miami International Airport.
I was listening to Party in the U.S.A by Miley Cyrus, a weird and strong effort to look at the bright side of this new life; it worked because the song always makes me want to dance and that day wasn’t an exception. I remember coming out of the plane and thinking “God, it smells so good. It smells like someone just cleaned everything.” Then I saw a cleaning lady and I knew I was right. When we walked out of the airport, I noticed it was a cloudy day but it was really hot, it’s one of those moments where you don’t know if you should take your jacket off or not. My cousin picked us up and her excitement was contagious, for the first time in that day, I smiled. She took us to Fuddruckers, we ate and talked a lot, it brought many memories from when my mom, my sister, and I used to come to Miami to visit and we would eat there sometimes. I liked it there because of all the photos of artist that I like, so that cheered me up too. That night, at my uncle’s house, before going to sleep my mom said “Thank you God, because we’re okay.” And I took her hand and said “Amen.” While she was sleeping, I prayed all night until I fell asleep. I prayed for my sister, I prayed for my mom, I prayed for my dad, I prayed for my friends, and I prayed that my life here was good. God only knows how much I prayed for my life to be good
here. Now, almost three years after, I looked back at those times and it’s a bittersweet feeling.
Mom and I day have our own house now, we have great family and friends, she has a good job and I graduated from high school with good grades. It’s funny because when she told me that we were going to be alright I didn’t believe in her, but she was right. After all the struggles, the tears, the fights, and the confusion, we’re alright. I learned that all sacrifices paid off, and that you can do anything you want if you’re determinate and have the inner strength to pick yourself up every time you fall. Coming here to Miami was hard, but I’m very grateful that we did
it.