Thank you

      Heading to the airplane to go to Guanajuato, Mexico anxious and perturbed to get off the plane with butterflies in my stomach, never imagining that an experience like this could change who I am. I never imagined my first time out of the United States and I was actually going on my first vacation that would affect the person that I am. It was the first time that I was going to Mexico and visit my family, whom I had always wanted to visit. I couldn't wait for the plane to land and see how Mexico was like. I imagined seeing everyone with churros, wearing huge sombreros that would be larger than their head, and mariachi groups everywhere. If only I knew how it felt when a plane takes off, I thought to myself.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Pop. Pop.

      My ears popped all of a sudden and I was so frighten. It felt horrible. The plane trembled all through the flight and I was so convinced that the plane was going to crash any minute, however it didn't.

      After three hours of sitting, we had finally got off the plane. I was so relieved and so happy that I was still alive. After getting our suitcases and exiting the airport I saw my aunt whom I hadn't seen since I was eight, dressed with winter clothes shivering and covering her mouth with her scarf. I ran and hugged her. The look of face made me want to cry. She looked so pleased to see us, especially my mom.

      While in the car driving to my aunt's house, I noticed that mostly everything was dirt. All the houses seemed to be old and it felt like I was in a desert. We got home and everyone started to hug us. I was hugging people that I had never seen in my entire life.

      While entering the house, I saw a flower. She was sitting by the door with a stick to scare the cats away. The flower amazed me so much that I could look at it forever. The flower looked so delicate but still had the biggest smile that I have ever seen in my entire life. The flower had a color that I had never seen like. It had a color of happiness and it bloomed like if it had just woken up from eternal sleep. It seemed as if it were immortal. Right when I saw her, the look of her eyes made me feel like I've known her forever. Her eyes were emerald stones and sapphire stones mixed together. They were like no other stone, one of a kind.

"Hola," I told everyone.

"Como te llamas hija?," my great grandma asked me.

"Gabriela."

"Que?" she asked me. I realized that she had problems hearing.

I raised my voice a little higher and said my name.

"Que bonito nombre. Mira! Las tres estan bien flacas. Maria, no les das de comer," she asked my mom. Everybody thought that my sisters and I didn't eat at all.

      All day long I traveled all around and met all my family. I met my grandma, Josefina and all my cousins, aunts and uncles, and of course my great grandma, Guadalupe. My mom didn't look nothing like to my grandma. My grandma would always be cooking or just sitting around. She couldn't do much. She wasn't as healthy as other people, because she has diabetes just like my cousin who is my age. My mom told me that most of the family on her side had diabetes.

      I noticed that they were really cruel with the animals, especially the dogs. Everywhere I saw dogs that were so skinny, as if they hadn't eaten in years. The shape of their bodies were so thin that they looked like skeletons. They would pull them so fast and it seemed like they were choking them. I couldn't help seeing. Every time I would make eye contact with a dog, they had the saddest look in their face. I wanted to take them all home but I knew that I couldn't.

     One day everyone went to work with my aunt at her store so they could buy souvenirs. My sisters and I stayed with my great grandma and my aunt. Someone had to take care of my great grandma while she was in bed in case she had to go to the bathroom or eat. I decided to go and take care of her. I had a long conversation with her and it made me realize a lot of things.

"Hija, respect your mother and father. Don't do something that later on in your life you'll regret. Believe in God because he'll always be there for you. Don't let el chamuco go into your life. Don't fight with your sisters. Love them. Don't follow the steps of the evil," she told me in spanish, making me want to cry. I wanted to hug her but I knew that she could hardly move.

"Si abuela," I told my great grandma. Every single word that she told me was really deep that it had touched my heart. Everyday I would go to my great grandma and read the bible with her because she would ask me to read to her until she fell asleep. She is catholic and believes everything that the bible says. When we would go visit places, she wouldn't be able to go because she could hardly move. She would wait for us awake on her bed hungry.

      The day finally came that we had to go. School was coming up and it was time to leave. The last day before leaving to the airport, my great grandma wanted to talk to everyone alone one at a time. It was finally my turn. I wasn't prepared for what she was going to tell me. She told me so many things that touched my heart that soon we began crying a river of tears.

"Why do you guys have to leave," she said with tears in her eyes.

"Abuela, don't worry, we will come back I promise," I said smiling and creating a smile on her face. The inside my heart was broken into pieces because I didn't want to leave. I wanted to stay there forever.

      It was finally time to leave. I looked back as we drove away. The farther we went, the house got smaller and smaller until it had finally disappeared. The farther we went, the more my heart broke and the more I missed them.

     During the whole flight I was crying because I was going to miss everyone. It took me a couple of days to get use to life here at home again. The next day we had school and the year was almost done. I realized that when I first arrived, everyone were just strangers to me. However, they were no strangers but family that I will always keep in my heart.

      Since then, I still think about her. She made me think about a lot of things. She is the one who made me realize that I could achieve in life and make a difference. She made me look at the world differently and think different. Just like the movie, "The Little Prince" she is my flower who I'll always keep safe and love. Even if there is a planet full of the same flowers, my abuelita will always be my one of a kind flower just like la Rosa was to el Principito. There might be millions of roses in the whole world, but she's my only one, unique rose. The flower that I will always admire and protect. The flower that I will always keep in my heart living forever.

      I couldn't wait to go visit her again next year. With no doubt, I knew that she would always remember me. She is the flower that will never die. It will dry up everyday more and more but no matter how dry it'll be, it will always have the biggest smile in the whole world. It might so delicate but it'll never give up until it's last petal is gone. I want to go to my great grandma and tell her, "Thank you so much great grandma. Gracias abuela. Te quiero."