I came to the United States when I was 3 years old. I crossed the border with my mom. We crossed the border in El Paso, TX. Unfortunately, my mom was detained and returned to Mexico. I ended up as a toddler alone without my mother and father for about a month waiting for my mom to attempt crossing again.
Once my mom made it across we flew into Chicago, IL. Knowing no English, we failed to take our final leg into Chicago. We were stranded in an unknown airport until my other aunt that already lived in Chicago managed to track us down with her husband.
While we waited in the strange airport without any US dollars the 3 year old me was very hungry. All around I could smell food. So I asked my mom if I could have some food. My mom had to tell me to wait because we couldn’t buy anything.
Next to us there was a vending machine with lots of snacks. To this day my mom lovingly jokes that one day I’ll be able to buy my own vending machine to make up for not being able to purchase any snacks the day we were stranded in that strange airport.
NOTE: This is not my full origin story. I will make a series out of it and post updates on it in the future under the Origin Story category. Thanks for reading!
