My father left his home in India in the early 1980s to move to America with his parents and siblings to live a better life. Since him and his siblings were in their 20s they did heavy working labor at a USPS factory. In 1989, my mother was at her home in Kerala, India when her father came up to her and told her that she is going to marry this boy that is from a nearby village and move to the United States with him and his family. My mother being 21 at that time understood her father’s decision of leaving this third world country and her family to have a better life and one day bring her family to America. My mother met my father once and then three days later they get married. My father returned to the United States to save up enough money to bring his new wife home. It was two whole years later that my mother arrived to West Orange, New Jersey in 1991. My mother brought her elephant tail ring that her father made for her when she was in 7th grade. It represents wisdom and love to whomever the ring is given to. My mother kept it with her to remind her of the love she had for her family and why she was coming to America, to bring her family here. She worked as a social worker and allowed tried extremely hard to get her parents to be permanent citizens here in the US. They both passed away before they could do so. However, recently my mother finally got both her younger brothers and sister to be citizens in America and is currently living with all of us in the United States.

– Livia Thomas

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