I am from a low/middle-class Vietnamese family of immigrants. My parents are the embodiment of the American Dream-- moving to the U.S. during the war with nothing on hand and no relatives or friends alongside them. How they managed to start anew whilst ensuring a better life for me, I will never understand. For the entire 38 years my parents had been in America, my father was computer technician for 27. My mother, on the other hand, was a housewife for 31 years, and has been self-employed for the last 7. I only saw my dad in the mornings when he took me to school because he worked the evening and night shifts, so I spent the majority of the time with my mom, who had to fulfill the roles of a mother and a father.
For the last seven years, my mother has been a skin care products retailer. Her business first begun at home, but she was able to secure a shared workplace inside a florist shop a year later. With no job or college experience, my mother dealt with many difficulties at work with angry co-workers and customers-- even then, she always prioritized my prosperity over her own by providing me with opportunities she was never given from her parents. Everyday was a busy day for her at work, but my mother found the time to pick me up from school, bring me to tutoring, and take me to piano lessons on Thursdays. On other days, she would drive me back to her shop where I studied and watched her work until the shop closed.…show more content… It was through her devoutness to her job, her overcoming of cultural/educational differences, and focus on my success all at the same time that I have learned the qualities of commitment, diligence, and the ability to put my heart into achieving any
