The American dream has many different meanings for many different people. For example, the average American will tell that you winning the lottery , becoming rich and famous and being on television are all what makes the American dream. However, I’ll tell you the dream has taken on many different forms over the years, constantly changing depending on one’s goals and desires. For example, the American dream for my grandma was always a little different, being raised on a humid, foggy ranch with more cows and animals than people, in a house about the same size as an average bedroom with another 8 brothers and sisters running around early mornings, late at night never settling, always full of crazy energy, always making noise louder than a thunderstorm all sharing the same room. A small ranch so far off the map, you’d have to get lost to end up there; people never traveled there on purpose because of its lack of cars, shopping centers and schools. A small corner of the world, where the typical day for seven days-a week consists of milking 400 lbs cows that smell just as bad as the manure, maybe worse. Let’s not forget about the tending of the pesky sheep and maybe their little piece of heaven; watching the radiant night sky full of stars lying on a thousand miles of fresh, moist lush fields of grass, greener than the color itself. Then of course, stood the two strict parents that never let her leave the ranch when all she aspired to was going into the city. Hearing the sounds of traffic, of pencils scribbling across paper on desks, and feeling that cold blast of air when you enter a mall. All things that for her understanding, stood waiting for her in the country of opportunity and freedom, our own United States of America. That brought me to wonder about my lovely grandmother, whose eyes tell stories of happiness and confidence, but also of a long stressful life, full of pain and loss. “Growing up in a small ranch in Durango, Mexico has been always lonely, humid, and lots of tedious work,” my grandma sighs.“ “Especially when you had a couple of crazy parents as strict as mine and 8 brothers and sisters running around” she explains. Throughout most of her childhood, all she wanted to do was live the life of a schoolgirl, with the loads of homework, and the shoulder agonizing pains of the 6-10 lb backpack. My grandma only wanted to emigrate and study engineering and succeed beyond that of her mom, or any other women in her family. However, life isn't so easy, especially on a limited income. Although, she found many sources to fuel her motivation and continue to make her desire to aspire to more. Mainly due to her father’s annual business trips to the U.S. and the stories he would tell all his kids about during the family meal, stories about hundreds of schools in one bustling city alone, the freedom to go anywhere within the whole country from coast to coast, the freedom to say what you feel. The hundreds of restaurants at every corner with foods almost as extravagant as the prices, and of course the intricate language that is English. She never really got to achieve her dream of leaving the countryside until she was 18 and by then she had very little education (only about an 8th grade education.) When she finally reached the U.S she tried enrolling in high school but it was too late, she thus decided to get on her feet and start working. Life has become very tough struggling daily; with 2-3 jobs at a time, simply to keep a roof over her head, while still struggling to adapt to a new language, new customs, and culture. Through all that she never lost hope of educating herself with whatever books she could buy on such limited income. Then came an even tougher challenge when the time she became pregnant with my mother, her only child and expenses almost doubled. “Thank god I was still studying and met this kind lady who would take care of her for me while I worked, she really helped me out with expenses too,” my grandma says as her eyes become full of tears, “ I nearly decided to move back with my family just to get a little help even if it meant giving up on what I had started already and worked so hard to maintain.” Especially when her and my grandfather, her late husband Jesus Munoz had to sell everything they owned back in Mexico just to barely afford to keep my mother in a good school. My grandmother says when they finally managed to get on their feet again they bought a house, the same house she has lived in for 30 years since her husband's tragic, devastating death that cost my mother to drop out to help my grandma pay for the house. She remains there today paying a huge house, by herself because she says she finds the motivation to keep going by remembering the memories that she and my grandfather created together. She says thing are tough, even now, “that prices just keep growing and growing as time passes and jobs for a 60 yr old woman with no diploma and very little English are nearly impossible to find” my grandma forces a smile. She says that now the American dream has changed so much with all the technology advancements, that the dream back when she was growing up is even laughable now. However, time has enabled both her and her family to surpass expectations and succeed in creating more of themselves than society expected a young Mexican girl from the countryside to reach.

Growing up, the only educated person in the family was her father, who only passed on what he knew to his sons because back then it was believed that girls were simply meant to be "housewives". However now in today's world, girls are not only being educated, but many are reaching levels and respectfully earning a place high up in society. In our extensive family alone, 10-15 people have not only graduated but attended college, and about the majority of them have been women. When asked about advice to the young, my grandma seemed lost in her thoughts, she opened her mouth as if to speak only to stop and let out a sigh, and wipe a single tear that seemed to dance its way down her cheek and softly she whispers, “to all the young people I’d say to never lose focus on your goals and never listen to people’s ignorance, because of god's sacrifice he has blessed you with technology, education, and money don't lose sight of what's important and never take the easy way out because in the end you're going to have to work hard no matter what."

From a small ranch girl, to the assistant manager of a factory out in Calhoun, Georgia who earned her place through constant battles she lives content, with how much not only her family, but women all over the world have come to surpassing the typical standards set for them. From a place where tortillas go perfectly with every meal of the day, where every Saturday morning she wakes up to the shouts of the men yelling “goal” to what she has made out of herself through hard work and perseverance she has created and succeeded her own American dream.