"Night Shifts"

Author: Ailyn Diaz

Finalist for The New York Times Tiny Memoir contest!

It's eight p.m., bedtime. Mom kisses us goodnight before heading to work. I didn’t know she left everything behind, with two little girls at twenty-five, coming to the U.S, alone, broken. Our childhoods were pretty dresses, new toys, and fun times at the zoo; hers were night shifts and early school morning drives. In the zoo’s bear exhibit, Mom dozes off on the bench, exhausted from her shifts. She hid her sacrifices with a smile. But I understand, I acknowledge every moment, sacrifice. She gave us happiness from her suffering, our smiling faces serving as a reward.