This picture shows my mother in 1994 at her high school graduation. She had two choices to make; to either stay in Jamaica and continue her education to focus on business marketing or to migrate to a foreign country where she felt she could make a difference. Since resources were low and there were not enough funds to send her to college, she bought a visa to come to America in 1995. She soon discovered that she faced the same problem in New York that she did in Jamaica; she could not attend college so she had to work in a private setting. Within one month that she had arrived in New York, she met the man who would become her husband and my father, who was born in Brooklyn. I came along in 1996. With a baby in the picture, my mother managed to save enough money to take a nurses’ aid course and earned a certificate. After earning that certificate, she decided to go back to school to become a licensed practical nurse. She worked in a nursing home for about 12 years and went back to nursing school to further her education and earn a degree as a registered nurse. Nursing is a very predominant profession in my family because of my mother. Although the nursing salary is good, she always tells me to pursue a career out of love rather than influence.

– D.L.

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