hernandezana22
**The Girl I Was Before**
Before I was a wife, before I was a mother, before I learned how to stay quiet to keep the peace, I was just a little girl from Guatemala.
I was born into circumstances I didn't understand. My mother was only fourteen when she had me. My grandmother became the woman who raised me, and for the first seven years of my life, I believed she was my mother.
Then I discovered that the mother I had never known was alive-and living in America.
At seven years old, I had no idea how much that discovery would change my life.
This is not just a story about one relationship.
It's my story.
A story about childhood, family, poverty, immigration, love, motherhood, heartbreak, fear, survival, mistakes, dreams, and finding yourself after spending years trying to become what everyone else needed you to be.
This is the story of the girl I was, the woman I became, and the person I'm still becoming.