Sorry

My name is Alexis Hernandez I am Cuban American and so is my whole family. My abuelo fought in the bay of pigs. When they first came here, they struggled and the only job my abuelo could find was a mechanic at the time. After a few years they learned English and became stable. My abuelos had an amazing life in America they loved it here and they were grateful to have been able to live here.

My mom’s best friend and her daughter lived with us for more than half my life, so she became family and her family became ours and ours became hers. My eldest sister and one of my mom’s best friends’ cousins started dating and we already knew them for a couple of years by that time. They were together for almost three years, but eventually broke up. We all stayed lose because we are still family years passed and as I got older, he started to compliment me more often and  in private. At the time I didn’t think anything of it because I saw him as an older brother. One night we had a party at my house, and it was almost 3 in the morning when he started to give me intoxicating drinks and then after a while of handing me those types of beverages, he started touching me in inappropriate ways he was 22 at the time. This continued for three years. Then I finally told one of my cousins and she told me that this is not something I should have to go through by myself or at all, so we went downstairs and told my mom. The next day my whole family knew what had happened. They called the police and they asked me questions about what happened, and I told them everything I remembered. Now when we have family parties everyone asks me how I am and treat me differently. The problem was resolved although he was not put behind bars, but after that I can’t sleep by myself. The and me feel scared, powerless and it also made me very shy.

I have always gone on vacation with my mom’s side of the family but then for the first time I went with my dad’s. None of us knew at the time it was a surprise, then we got there. My favorite uncle was there it was the best vacation ever, little did we know it was our first and last time going on vacation with him. We were all aware of his health problems. He was diagnosed with melanoma cancer n 2012. He was truly an amazing person sweet, smart and his eight-year-old daughter was his world. Although I have gone through 4 deaths besides his in these last two years his was the hardest to go through for all of us because he was everyone’s best friend. It made me feel alone and empty without being able to talk to him on the phone all the time with him.

I see our nation divided between people, family, and countries. We as people need to come together and help each other and the economy.