Bravery can manifest itself in people due to the challenges they face in life.  It is the path that a person decides to follow, which shows their fate.  I was fortunate enough to meet my great-grandparents who showed me this.  They had escaped Cuba because of Castro and the communist regime, and moved to America to start a new life.  The bravery my great-grandparents had in choosing to leave their homeland was due to their strong conviction of what they believed in.  They did not believe in communism and knew that there was a better life of Freedom in America.

My great-grandparents, Mima and Papi, had met and fell in love in Havana, Cuba.  Their love for each other was invincible, but unlike fairytales, they were not allowed to marry.  Mima’s wealthy parents disapproved of Papi and his poor family of farmers.  In order for them to circumvent the obstacle, they eloped.  They had lived the early years of their marriage full of love and happiness.  Some years later, they had a baby girl named Rose, who is my grandmother. 

Papi was the first to arrive to America.  He did not want to take any handouts from Mima's family and wanted to provide a good life for his new and growing family.  He arrived in America, alone, without any money and no place to live.  Through much hard work and making connections along the way, he began his brave journey of what created the origins of our family today.  He worked two and sometimes three jobs to afford the the trip for my great-grandmother, Mima and my grandmother to join him.  He was able to do this in about a year of working two and sometimes three jobs.  My grandmother loves to tell the story of the treacherous voyage her and her family took from Cuba to Florida.  The tiny ferry they had taken had the unfortunate luck of being caught in the eye of a hurricane and the harrowing survivors of the boat facing large ocean swells and strong winds.  Once arriving in Florida, they had taken a train to New York City where Papi had set up their new life for them.  Mima and Papi were able to deal with all the hardships which came with starting a new life with little bit of money and clothes on their backs.   While in the states life became increasing difficult for the family left behind in Cuba.  Mimi and Papi then began to sponsor every relative one by one until all of their siblings and parents were able to escape the communist regime.  Once again, their strength and bravery showed through, again working several jobs for this to happen.  Papi, who was originally looked down upon by Mima's family became the family hero.  With time, life became easier and easier.  Mima and Papi provided a wonderful life in New York for their two kids, helping every relative establish their life here in the states.

In the family, some couples grew old together, while other people got married and had their own kids. This caused them to branch out of New York and move into suburbs of New Jersey.  Mima and Papi had bought their own little house in Westwood, only a town away from my grandmother.  Just a few years after I was born, Mima had been diagnosed with severe Alzheimer's disease.  This caused her to forget the early years of her life, and the people who loved her most. It is sad to think that her mind was just blank.  Mima was not able to remember the adventurous life she experienced with her husband and children, or even what she ate for dinner the previous day.  At the end of her life, she didn’t get to remember why she chose the decisions she made decades ago, or even how lucky she was to be in America. 

I might not have appreciated it or realized it at the time when they were alive, but my great-grandparents have changed me as a person by showing how strong they acted during the hardships of their lives.  It is weird to think that if they had never decided to come to America, than my mom would not have been born.  And my parents would have never met.  And I would not be alive.  It amazes me that a stranger would never know the story which hid behind the faces of regular American citizens.  Their bravery and had surpassed anything which I have ever done, or will do in my life.  For that reason, I admire everything they had done for themselves in the past, and for the future generations like me who have been able to say “I am related to them”.