I arrived at my house as I usually did. I went straight to my bedroom to play my Super Nintendo. I did not have to worry about homework because the second grade was about to end  and summer was right around the corner. I did not know what I was going to do but I was still excited about not going to be in school for a little more than two months. It was a whole dream come true to me to have a nice and long vacation away from school.
     When I was in the middle of my game, my mom walked in. I thought she was going to get clothes for work like usual, but she stood close to the door and looked at me.  I wasn't paying attention because I was too hooked inside the game. I was moving the little red Mario character over little bricks breaking them and not trying to keep Mario from falling. Suddenly, my mom said "Tony," a confused grin was on her face.
    I turned around and paused the Nintendo, eager to keep playing  and I said "What?"
    "I have a question to ask you," she paused for a few seconds and exhaled a short breathe. "Do u want to go to Mexico this summer?"
     I was confused because I had been begging to go and she had kept saying no previously because we did not have enough money. Plus, it would be hard for my parents to come back because they were illegal immigrants so the only way the could truly come was by hopping the border, which can really put them at risk of never coming back again. I looked at her confused. Many thoughts were racing through my head and all I said to her was, "Really? The whole summer?"
    "Yeah mijo, but you have to go by yourself because me and your dad have to work."
    As soon as I knew it, I was packing up my bags to go to Mexico. My mom was stuffing up my bags with clothes to give to her family, which she hadn't seen in 5 years. I didn't know what to pack, so my mom did all of it. We had to hide it from my little brother, who was three, so he wouldn't cry that I was leaving.
    The next day, around 10 pm, I said goodbye to my little brother and told him that I had a doctors appointment and that I would be back soon. I felt really bad leaving him but I knew I had to. So I stepped out of the house with watery and heavy eyes trying my best to hold it in
    I went into the car nervous because I was going to ride an airplane all by myself, not knowing anybody, but I knew that I had to be a man. I wanted to go on this trip and I couldn't stop now.
    My mom was crying and told me that she loved me and to call her everyday. My dad hugged me too and said to be a good kid and not cause any trouble. I walked inside the plane, nervous as can be.
    The flight attendants were taking extra care and keeping an eye on me because I was a minor, so they left a little weight off of my shoulders. I felt good knowing that someone was looking over me and asking me if I needed anything. I did not feel so lonely in the plane anymore knowing that I had two young and pretty ladies in red and blue suit skirts looking over me. I tried to sleep because they insisted of it but the seat were too uncomfortable.
    After 4 hours on the plane, I got off and immediately started looking for my grandma, because she was the only person that I knew in Mexico. I saw all these families crammed up behind a glass wall waiting for their family to arrive, which made it harder and more tedious for me to find my grandma. I had to move my little head all over like a sprinkler to be able to find her. Finally, I saw my grandma and I told the flight attendant. She grinned at me and said I could go with her, I raised my hand up high and started screaming, "abuelita!"
    We finally saw each other, and hugged. She told me that my uncle was waiting for us in the parking lot. I was eager to get on his truck because it was still about an hour ride from the airport to my grandma's house. I saw the huge white truck with a round bald man sitting in the driver's seat. I greeted him as fast as I could and entered the truck which I knew was going to lead me into a beautiful journey.
    We exited the highway and I saw all these multicolored, opaque houses and buildings stuck or almost stuck to each other at each block. Right I after, we arrived to my grandma's house not knowing what to expect. All I saw around me was rocky cemented road with stains of bright brown dust on top of it. Then I see a large yellow two story house, there was something that told me that was it. So I walked over there,  and right before I open the big black steel door I wondered to myself if I looked like anyone of my family members because truly I did not look like neither of my parents at that time.
    It was there early. All my aunts, uncles, and cousins were waiting for me (or maybe just for the gifts that my mom sent with me) anxiously. When I finally got there, all my aunts and uncles just kept shouting out, "mijo que grande (big) y que chulo (cute) !" I was getting irritated by the constant repetition, but I had to take it in. I knew if I complained, the good  mood would die out in the room. Looking around, I had realized that nobody looks remotely like me but oh well I'm just really unique.
    At last! It was finally time to eat. The moment I've been waiting for all day. I had heard such great things about the Mexican food cooked actually in Mexico and I wanted to see if they were true. And it was nothing but the truth. You could smell the beautiful aroma of freshly handmade tortillas, ground  Chile sauce, and nice, brown refried beans. It was Mexican heaven. I just kept eating and eating until I just couldn't anymore.
    After everybody finished eating, I, as an eight year-old had a lot of energy and wanted to play. So my grandma told me to go play with the neighbors outside. As soon as I got out the door there was three boys and one girl around my age that were instantly looking at me from head to toe with cringed faces. I didn't know what was going on. One of the boys was tall, skinny, with a matured voice, the second boy was also tall with a very dark skin color and an extremely irritating voice, the smallest boy looked almost exactly like the tallest boy but in a shorter version, and lastly the girl was short, pretty long brown hair and colored eyes. All of their clothes were faded and dusty from being outside on the street for a long time.
    "Ay, are you from the north?" the tallest one asked.
    I did not know he meant at all so I said, "Que? Whats that?"
    "It's when someone is from USA, pendejo," he replied.
    "Oh? Yeah," I said without knowing what else to say. One of the girls looked at him and rocked her head from side to side in disappointment.
    Then the smallest boy looked at me and said, "Have you ever played las maquinitas?"
    "No? What is it?" I asked.
    "You know. The are like video games in a big machine and you put coins in to play," the short boy said.
    "Oh. Now I know what you talking about. And of course I have played them. Are there any here that we can go to?" I asked eagerly.
    "Of course, the liquor store right there on the corner has one we could go right know if you want."
    "Oh yes! Lets do it!" I realized that it was my aunts store and that it was going to make it even better for me because there were going to be videogames and cheap  snacks. I had a pocket full of Mexican money that I never seen before but was extremely willing to spend it on videogames and snacks.
    I walked in the store with authority because I felt special, as it was my aunts store. She looked at me surprised that I made some new friends in less than five minutes.
    As I look around the store, I see different types of multicolored candy in a glass case. Behind me there are twelve small gray boxes with different fruits and vegetables. In the back of the store, there are two arcade machines behind all the house cleaning supplies. The arcade machine on the left is green and has a black screen and the other one red and black with gold letters the read "SREET FIGHTER." As soon as I saw those beautiful gold letters, I went after it like a rat when it sees cheese. This cheese to me was heaven. I felt glory and nothing could stop me.
    Me and the boys had a little tournament going on. We would all win at different times. I kept changing bills from my aunt into coins. But Slowly my bills were decreasing. After an hour or so the tallest boy, Ricky, told me that he had no more money. I was stuck. I was disappointed because I still had money and I wanted to keep playing. So I decided to give him money so we keep having fun. As soon as you know it I was buying them candy, little toys and drinks. Something came over me, I didn't know what it was. So  I guess every time my mom said "mijo, when you have something it is always best to share," has actually stuck with me. I just gave out money without truly thinking or giving it to much thought.
    This type of thing did not happen once but many times. I jus could not explain it. Something took over me, but what? Who knows, all I knew was that I was having a good time.
    One day around the third week of my visit to Mexico, I was with my new friends walking around the river by my grandmas house. The pathway was made of red dust, with little spots of green here and there, and semi-big green and brown bushes. On the other side of the river, it was greener, tall beautiful trees allover. We had our slingshots ready for action. As soon as we heard or a saw a bird or a lizard it was going to be all bad.
    The walk was kind of quiet. We shared a few jokes here and there, but not too much excitement. But I wasn't bored. In California I did not have this much freedom, especially at the age of eight. We kept walking and from far away we saw a pretty long rectangular box. Around fifty feet ahead of us. We truly didn't know what it was so we decided to investigate by running there our fastest. We all got there at the same time except for the short boy, Jose, who fell, around twenty feet behind us. We looked at the box, trying to analyze it as much as we could. It was a light brown wooden box that was about six foot long box. It looked like a homemade coffin. We all backed up kind of slowly and looked at each other with fear.
    "Oh my god, there is a drop of blood right there!" Jose said with a short, stubby, trembling finger.
    We all looked around quickly to see if there was anything or anyone around us. Suddenly, we heard something. Without a thought, we all screamed like we weren't going to ever scream again and we ran shoulder to shoulder as fast as we could back to civilization.    
    We arrived to my aunt's store, without breathe, bending over, our hearts racing, trembling in fear. Asking ourselves and each other, was that really a coffin, where is the body whose was it, is there really a reason for us to be scared? We were terrified to death.
    We were still in shock. My heart was beating too fast because of the running and the fear. So we all decided to go home to calm down and relax.
    I walked in my Grandma's house, and headed directly to the kitchen to get some water. I grabbed the water with my scrawny, trembling hand. I was gulping the water as if I was a whale. Trying to relax myself. It just hit me, that was not a real coffin, it was a pigeon messenger box. I remembered that my uncle showed me one exactly like it. So I just laughed at myself for assuming something ridiculous.
    Then I see my Grandma walking down the stairs. She looked at me and said, "Tony, I heard you have been giving away your money that your parents gave YOU to spend for yourself."
    I looked at her surprised. Were did that come from? I did not know what to say.
    "So is it true?"
    "I haven't been giving out money away, all I did was buy them a few things."
    "Same thing! You should not be giving your money away that your parents worked hard for! You should know better than that! I've noticed that you have been rapidly wasting your money and you still have several more weeks left."
    "I'm sorry grandma. I did not realize that. I won't do it again."
    Suddenly, I realized that I was taking advantage of my parents money and taking it for granted. I guess I did give them money out of pity and I was having fun at the same time, but  while my parents were working their asses of trying to give me that money. I had decided to rather try to have fun without you using money but just with the friends that I made. I knew that they were going to be there for me without money or not because they ran with me and although they were faster than me they did not want tot leave me behind.
    Some kind of feeling was in me, not truly knowing what it was, but I knew it good. It was knew and different but unique and priceless. I felt a bond with Mexico, especially the boys. Those boys made me realize how although we are from totally different worlds we were actually the same. Clothes, money, and other materialistic items do not make who you are but were you come from. And I, I came from Mexico.