The divorce of my parents on my fourteenth
            
             birthday... The death of my grandmother, my closest
            
             relative... When these tragedies occurred, I acted as
            
             though nothing was wrong, like that was how it was
            
             supposed to be. During our countries "Gilded Age", the
            
             immigrants who came from all across the seas, thought
            
             the United States was perfect. As we and many others
            
             have learned, the proverb, "All that glitters is not gold"
            
             holds true in many circumstances.
            
            
             It was my fourteenth birthday; my dad had just come
            
             home from being in Kansas. For my birthday he bought
            
             me a fourteen-carat gold necklace and a T-shirt with a
            
             dog on it. After my family ate dinner and dessert, my
            
             mom and dad despersed to their bedroom. The house was
            
             silent. I went into their bedroom to see what they were
            
             doing. I always did. I asked what was up and my dad
            
             with tears in his eyes told me my mother wanted a divorce
            
             from him. My heart shattered. I said "Oh," and
            
             disappeared into m bedoom. In the dark abyss of
            
             loneliness, I cried. The next day and all through their
            
             divorce my parents would ask how I felt. All I would say
            
             was, "Fine," and walk away. I was far from being fine.
            
            
             "I can not wait until we get there," an Irish woman
            
             once said to her husband on their way to America. A few
            
             months later the woman states that she wishes she could
            
             go back to "the old country." The woman thought they
            
             would come into instant wealth and live in a glorious
            
             country. Alas, it was not to happen. America was going
            
             through some tough times. There were not enough jobs to
            
             supply for all the incoming immigrants. There was not
            
             enough wealth circulating for the amount of people in the
            
             United States. America was glorified, but on the inside it
            
             was as bad off as some of the overseas countries.
            
            
             My closest relative; my confidant; my grandmother
            
             ...