Mami, I'll be twenty-five this year. a quarter of a century filled with your love, your affection, and your unconditional support has taught me things. This year, I'll be two years younger than you were when you had to make the decision as to flee your motherland and leave behind everything you ever knew in pursuit of freedom and endless opportunities not for yourself but for both of your children, or to not. I can never fathom what it would be like to be faced with a decision of that magnitude, but i've seen first hand the impact that has had, and still has on your life. I have reaped all of the benefits, while you've had to pay the price, time after time. I can feel it in your energy when you bless rooms with your presence and people who haven't been through half of what you've been through look down upon you just because you weren't born in the same land that they were, and you still get to drink their water and eat their food and enjoy their luxuries. but you never let that get you down, if anything, you've always used that to build yourself up more; because you haven't worked as hard as them, you've worked harder. You've taught me humility, you've taught me perseverance, you've taught me righteousness, you've taught me how to be rutheless, you've taught me to be relentless. I am eternally grateful for you and for the opportunities you've created for me. I'm where I'm at in life today because I've worked hard, but also because you've made it possible for me to have a fair fight, a fair chance, an equal opportunity. I am a first generation migrant and i promise to forever preserve our culture and to pass on these stories to our generations to come in honor of your existence which has allowed me to be. I can't thank you enough.