Twelve and a half years, and I only have a Green Card to show for it.

I moved to Texas from Mexico in July 1995. Its been about 12 years and a half, and I am still only a legal resident alien.
I have been a legal resident of the U.S. since 2001, but I should have been a citizen by now. My father is a native born citizen, and it should have transferred to me. Which comes to show how much your parents have love for you. My parents divorced in October 1995, when I was only 6 years old. After that, it would be generous to say that I see my dad twice a month.
My mother, the best human being on earth, has done everything for me. My father left us (my mom, my two older sisters, one who was pregnant, and me) on the streets of El Paso, Texas, only three months after moving us from Mexico to the United States. As you can imagine, none of us knew English, and we had forty dollars in our pocket. The average person would have given up at this point. But my mother, being the strong individual she is, brought us out of our hole.
I can barely remember this point in our lives, so I don't remember what we did right away, but my mother got back into the game by selling burritos. She went to the cheapest grocery store, bought some tortillas, cheese and beans and started cooking. We had a green Ford Thunderbird which she would take to the many factories on the westside of El Paso and from the twenty dollars she spent she made forty. The following day, she did the same thing, this time making sixty. And she kept at it. I recall her dropping me off at the young age of 7 at a factory, Rock-Tenn, at 4 o'clock in the morning, with a cooler full of burritos. I was instructed to sell them for a dollar each. She didn't know when she would be back, but she would pick me up in time to go to school. This continued for about a year. Soon enough, we upgraded, and began making hair bows with Disney Princesses on them. On the weekends, my sisters and I would go to the flea market and sell as many as we could. The success continued so we began selling purses and jewelery.
And slowly but surely, we got to where we are. My mother is now the proud owner of 3 cars, a house and a whole block of property. She works hard Monday thru Saturday to give us everything we have. I admit I have taken advantage of her, and done some things that a daughter should never do to her mother. I have terrible regret for these things, although at one point in time it was what I wanted.
My mother taught herself English and went to a community college to receive her GED, since she had only studied up to sixth grade in Mexico. She taught herself all about immigration and she now helps other fellow immigrants to get their papers. Because of her, I got my legal residency in 2001, even though I could have gotten it faster thru my father. She barely became a legal citizen in 2006.
On Tuesday, February 19th, 2008 I have my appointment for my citizenship interview. The feeling that I have is amazing. All the work that my mother has done for me is about to pay off. It comes to show that if you have a strong heart and determination, anything, and i mean anything, is possible.