Intro:

 There she was standing, feeling the lights of Times Square glowing on her skin, she took in a deep breath, the air was too cold. Around her were two police men standing by their cruiser, and the crowd was passing by her and there was this woman dressed as bride. Aline turned around, and a little girl looked up at the lights and her eyes sparkled.  Right behind her a black old man was standing by the wall, he was wearing sun glasses, she wondered why. It all seemed so unreal; it remained her of a movie scene, but then she realized that it wasn`t a movie scene, it looked like a dream. I dream she`d once dreamed. And at that right moment she knew that ever dream that she`d ever dreamed before could come true.

Background:

 Aline was too anxious waiting for her mom that made her sick. She was only 9 years old and her mom was coming back from Japan to give birth to her baby sister in Brazil. Her mom and father went to Japan to work and try to give her a better life. Aline stayed with her grandma and after two long years her mom was coming back. Her father would come back in what was supposed to be the happiest days of her life if it wasn`t for the fact that she was grieving for her little sister that passed away right after being born.

 Aline lived in Brazil with her family for two short years but then her parents decided that it was time to get back to Japan and try it again since the last time they were there was only enough for them to build a home. They said they would stay just another two years and that this time they wouldn`t live their daughter behind. She was happy to go with her family but she couldn`t help thinking about what she was living behind. She convinced herself that it all would be waiting for her when she gets back in just two years.

 It took them by surprise that her mom was pregnant again since the doctors said she would never be able to conceive a child again because of her diabetes. Aline was happy as ever but also so scared for this baby that she already loved so much. She had to watch her mom go through a really difficult pregnancy; she spent days sometimes weeks in the hospital to keep her diabetes in a way that it was healthy for her and the baby. Her little brother was born the cutest baby, she`d to watch him trough some windows for days before she could really hold him in her arms. It was a scary thing to see him and her mom go through all of this, and it hurt her that she couldn`t do anything about it.

 It wasn’t a year after that and her father was going through some tough time. The doctors in Japan did not know what he had so they just kept him at the hospital for weeks saying that he couldn’t eat until they figure out what was wrong with him. She and her mom used to sneak out the nurses just to give her father something to eat, they knew it wouldn`t help but they just could not watch him starve and ask for food and do nothing. A month later they knew what her father had, some diseased he got in Brazil and he had to go into surgery. At the time she didn`t realized how serious it was - actually she did not want to believe in it. As she walked to that room and saw her father the man she loved most in this entire world attached to so many wires breathing trough tubes, she couldn`t help but wonder if his heart was still beating. But she heard the beeping of the machines so steady and then he holds her hand in a very weak way. She wished, hoping that God would listen to her thought, and help her take her dad back home, which he did.

 Life was going pretty much on the same way. She didn`t care much about school actually she hated it. She was the weirdo that every kid would pick on. She couldn`t understand why people here was so different from the kids back home, they were not nice or even polite- not to her anyway. She knew she had more important things to worry about at home and she didn`t care because it would be over soon, very soon. She usually just fill her thoughts with her dreams, endless dreams that her father and mom always supported even though sometimes she didn`t even believe in her own dreams, they always make sure that she knew she could do anything she wanted with God by her side.

 She was so grateful for all that they did to her that it hurt her so much to see them struggling with their heath, her mom with diabetes and her father with post surgery condition. Her little brother was as health as a kid could be but he still had some visits to the hospital now and then nothing to worry about. But the thing is she didn`t think it was fair that they all suffered so much and all she had was an ear infection in all these years. She was really grateful that she could be strong and always be there for them, but it did not feel fair that the only thing that she had the best in her she couldn`t give it to them. She wouldn`t mind getting sick sometimes if that meant they could have a break.

 She tried to be a good daughter and sister but she made mistakes. At time she just wanted to even things out a little bit. She did not want to be the all good, happy, HEALTHY, dreamy kid. She wanted to be normal and it all could be just her teenager hormones, but at the time it did feel horrible as it make her stronger.

Professional

 Aline left school when she was fifteen she did some tests years after that and graduated. She worked in a production line of a factory and after a few weeks there was no need to think about what she was doing,  it was automatic her body already knew it so she had too much time to think and dream. The problem was that her dreams was always about Brazil how great it would be to be back, start her business there, meet someone live happily ever after in the place that she belonged, or  she thought so at the time.

 It did not take long for the job start to feel too boring and she wasn`t studying or even thinking to work for that matter. She felt like her brain would just stop working at some point. She was never an excellent student before but she missed so much learning something new. She tried to learn Japanese but that didn`t last long she didn`t even want to be there why would she want to learn their language?  And long after that she started studying things that she liked, photography, English. And as her acknowledgement grew so did her dreams.

Personal

When she finally got back to Brazil at age 20 she started to give her dreams wings to fly. She did got: into college, her own vehicle,  a job, even her first love back.  You would say that she felt happy and realized but she didn`t fell complete like something was missing better yet – like she was missing something. After a year in Brazil she went after another dream the biggest one yet. She felt sad to live everything behind but she also found that missing piece of her heart.

 And now walking down the streets on the capital of the US she could understand why all those things happened not to her but to others, of course she had to be the strongest, of course she had to feel that way, that they need her. Because now so far away from them she is the weakest and she needs them to be stronger for her to value something that she doesn`t have here that they have there: family.

 She still looks for the place that she belongs, and still dreams. And every day as she gets more different a new dream take a place in her heart. The first time she walked in the building of the GWU she could feel it growing inside her. What would be like have a degree in a University like this? She could totally see herself taking the classes and walking by the buildings with a cup off latte in her hands. Aline doesn`t really know where she belongs but she does know this she is and will always be where her dreams take her to.