Many Mexican Americans come from immigrant parents who sacrificed everything for that ¨American dream.¨ 

As an eight year old girl in the city of Culiacan, Sinaloa Carmen spent her free time selling the items her mother Enriqueta (Queta) made at home such as tortillas, donuts and burritos. She would also sell vegetables that her father Mariano, brought home from the farm.

¨Mija everything is ready” , Queta would tell Carmen once she had everything prepared in bags to be sold.

Shortly after Adela, Carmen's cousin would stop by and holler

¨lets go sell!,  are you ready?¨

¨yea!¨ said Carmen 

They would walk up and down the streets barefoot in the scorching heat selling in between traffic, just how it's seen in movies based in Mexico. 

Being barefoot was not an option, the money they made was barely enough.

Carmen had a happy childhood, despite the fact that her family was very poor. She was the third child of eight but the oldest daughter which made her in charge of all the ¨woman duties¨ such as cooking, cleaning, providing for her family and taking care of her younger siblings. She hated the fact that she had to work at a very young age. She had the dream to really make something out of herself to make her family proud but in the conditions they were living in she just couldn't. She ended up having to drop out of school at the age of fifteen and find how to cross the border up north in search of the ¨ American Dream¨.

¨I'm so tired of this, let's get out of here let's go up north¨,  Said Adela.

¨Really, Up north?¨, questioned Carmen, she was excited but the thought of it made her nervous.

¨Yes, to the United States, to California. I know someone that will help us get across.¨

Carmen didn't respond, it was something she had to think about, how was she going to ditch her family. Yet the thought of it gave her some kind of relief. 

¨I'll sleep on it¨ said Carmen

The next day Carmen was waiting for Adela to go out and sell, she waited and waited but Adela never showed up. Carmen started to get worried and went to her house to look for her. She was shocked to find out that Adela had already started her journey to the ¨American dream.¨ 

As Carmen walked back home she felt as if she had no other option but to follow in her cousin's footsteps. She wanted to start her journey to the ¨American dream¨ as well. 

That same day she went home and mentioned it to her parents right then and there her father told her, ¨either you stay here and continue your women duties at home or you go out there and get a job to help us out of this hell hole¨ 

¨okay, I'll go¨ she said

The following day she took a twenty four hour trip from Culican to Tijuana. She arrived with many others and was given the instructions to take a taxi to a hotel (Hotel Roma) which was very close to the U.S border. Once they had settled down in the hotel room. And the night came 

*BANG BANG BANG

¨GET UP GET UP IT'S TIME TO GO¨ Said the coyote 

As they got up all startled they rushed out and started walking towards their destination. A few minutes in they had to run for their lives in order to not get caught. Carmen was feeling as if she couldn't continue due to the heavy breathing her asthma was causing. She ran through ditches, crawled through tunnels, and jumped fences. Soon she noticed she was falling behind unsure if she was going to be able to catch up with the group.

¨RUN RUN C´MON¨ said some men in the group

She felt as if she couldn't breathe but the thought of her family gave her motivation to continue running. 

Finally making it across she was taken to a house where she would be picked up by a family friend who later became someone very special to her Luis, my father.  

Feeling a sense of relief for finally making it to ¨the other side¨, Carmen settled down in Los Angeles. She got employed, cleaning banks was her job.

Fast forward, Thirty years later they've owned plenty of properties, remodeled them and sold them as a form of investment. To them they have lived the so called american dream.