I was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 27, 1996 (just two days after my dad’s birthday!). My parents had just moved from inside the city to Oak Park, where I spent my entire childhood. Across the street from my house, a girl, named Maria, with big curly hair lived with her family. Our families immediately clicked—Maria’s mom was from Mexico just like my dad’s family, and Maria had one brother just like I did. When Maria and I were six, her family decided to move to River Forest. At first, I was very sad because I thought I would never see her again. But my mom and I would always visit her in River Forest, whether we picked her up from Lincoln Elementary school, played at the playground, or had sleepovers at her house.
I loved being in elementary school and growing up in Oak Park. I always felt totally myself and explored new things. The thing that I liked the most was reading, and my favorite books were the Harry Potter series. Every summer, my uncle would gift me the newest Harry Potter book of that year and I would devour it as quickly as possible at our cabin in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) in Michigan, where my mom is from.
It was around this time that my parents started taking my brother and me on different trips. We always went to the U.P.
