My parents got divorced when I was fifteen. I remember the afternoon when my Mom and I had to run away because my Dad had reached the limit of the physical abuse with my Mom. The night before, he threw her clothes out of the window and pushed her into the streets wearing pajamas and barefooted.

They were together for twenty-one years, and from those days I have all kinds of sad and miserable memories. I grew up in a house where my parents never paid the bills due to my Dad’s disorganized life and addictions. We had our electricity shut off, the phone was always suspended, or if it worked, we had instructions not to put my Dad on the phone because it was people asking my Dad to pay his loans. My Mom always would start a new business, and it would prosper until my Dad would come to control everything and make it fail. My Mom was always building something, trying to succeed; my Dad was always taking her back into the hole. My Dad would beat up my Mom until she bled at least twice a week. All doors, walls, and items in my house were destroyed due to his anger and impulsive violent attacks. Even though that was my Mother’s life, she was happy, always smiling when she dropped us off to school… and not for being hypocritical – she was somehow happy to have me and my sister. She always looked beautiful to me; never complained, always saying that everything was going to be okay.

When my parents got divorced, my Dad obviously had someone else already. Well, my Mom was lonely for eleven years! She never felt angry, never felt lonely, and never felt depressed! She always talked about this perfect beautiful husband that was going to marry her soon. Since her experience with my Dad was so devastating and traumatic, she said she wanted to move to a different country and marry a guy that wasn’t Colombian. She talked about an American or a European guy when she talked about “her husband”. She never talked about him like “my future husband”. No! She always talked about him in the present, like he was with her then, like they were just apart from each other for a period of time.

We were very poor, I was going to school with a lot of struggles, we lived off my sister who managed to finished college and found a nice job. We had no way to even apply for a Visa, but my Mom went to the consulate and got herself a passport! She went and got the pictures taken and started making plans! We sadly thought my Mom was going crazy. No! My Mommy had a plan! A plan in which she was going to turn her life around! She didn’t know how, she just knew it was going to happen!

My Mom would always talk about her trip to Europe. Anytime it was a special occasion where somebody was going to give her a gift, she would always ask for a purse, or a coat, or something she was going to need during her flight…

I managed to obtain a scholarship and left the country. I left my Mom, leaving a life that for me seemed to be very sad. I was very concerned about her being so lonely and without me; I felt she was going to feel unhappy. I was very concerned. She couldn’t find a job, because in Colombia you are not able to find a job after you turn thirty. You are already too old to find a job. She is an artist; she works crochet and can make the most beautiful clothing. My Mom’s life was sewing bathing suits and coats for other people, but she never complained! Never! Not even once! That wasn’t a problem because she was sure her life was patiently waiting for her…

One day my cousin invited her to spend a few months with her in Sweden. My sister thought this was the trip that my Mom always dreamt of, and gave her the very expensive tickets as a gift for being the best Mom in the world!

My Mom met this guy on the internet, and he turned out to be Spain! He spoke Spanish, so they could communicate because my Mom doesn’t speak another language. It was love at first sight. He took her to Spain, and now they live in his house, that now is my Mom’s too! The house is a beautiful house in front of the ocean, and my Mom has the life she always dreamt about! She is in love and her husband has compensated for all those sad years with unlimited kisses and love! He treats her like a princess! Like she deserves!

My Mom is happy now and has the life she always wanted, because she was always expecting it. She always knew it was there for her… it was only a matter of time, patience, and faith…