As she looked back over her thirteen years as an immigrant in the U.S., Maria’s biggest regret after leaving Guatemala and walking through a desert filled with venomous snakes, not enough food and water, was the good-byes she never said to friends and family. Especially family members now separated by death—her grandparents. Denied a visa, at twenty, Maria risked the journey here to join her brother and reunite with the “love of her life.” Three children later, and still happily married, she had been right to follow her heart. Haunted by the death of those she will never see again, she remains undeterred as she pursues a career in Early Childhood Education while balancing her roles as mother and student to keep her family healthy and strong.