It was after that incident at the driver’s education office that I started to realize what being an illegal alien was like. All my life I grew up thinking that I was like everyone else. I went to all the Four of July parties with friends, stood up in school to pledge allegiance to the flag, and took my hat off to sign the national anthem before a football game. Although I felt like an American, society was now treating me like I did not matter. I was, and still am, and cadet in JROTC. A class that I decided to take because my dreams have had been ever since I was 6 years old, to become a pilot. I knew that JROTC would help me out pursuit the dream and then join the U.S. Air Force after high school. But all that, was soon to be shattered along with my dreams.

 2 months after I started my freshman year, my mother started feeling a little weak and complained about a pain in her chest. Because of the lack of money she decided to just ignore it. Three weeks later happened and she was still feeling the pain. It was then when she decided to go to the doctor. That very same day she came home, but when I saw her face I felt my life crumbling. I did not know what she had to say, but I already knew it could not be good. She told me to into the room, and once more I closed the door so my little brother would not hear the tragic news she had brought. The doctor had informed my mother that she suffered from a severe case of breast cancer, and prompt surgery would be the only thing to slow it down, and then she would have to go through surgeries, and chemotherapy. 

 At the moment I could not think of anything, but of ways to help my mother out. I knew how to drive, but I could not get a license. I knew how to work, but I could not get a job to help her out even a little bit economically, I knew what to do, and I knew how to do it, yet, I felt so useless. As the days were passing I started to realize that my life was just getting more difficult every day. Things were just not going to be the same.