 Wait, look! Say no! It's not fair! Even though we may be miles apart, you're always in my heart. And the idea is that you keep one and you send the other one to your little one. I can't sit here and say that it was in any way easy to be away from my daughter. But at the same time, it felt like it was a step forward to getting out of where we were at. La Pointe? Marquez? Thank you for your service. I've been there. I've done it. I know what it feels like to be away from family. And I really do mean it from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate your service, okay? Thank you, guys. Growing up in LA was not easy. My neighborhood was plagued by violence, drugs. My mom was always pushing towards getting out of the situation. That was always the goal. She would work long hours and constantly tell me that this is not what we needed to settle for. We always needed to do better. At the age of 18, when I got pregnant for a second, I was like, this is it. This is where my life is going to end. I would have to put on Melissa what was put on me. I'm going to work extra hours. Do everything my mom had done in hopes that she can get us out of the situation that we were in. I decided this was not going to be it. This was not going to be the end. I was working at my mother's restaurant. And in one occasion, I had some recruiters come in and I was listening to the recruiters telling these recruits how great the Navy was. All these places they had gone and all the benefits. And that right there was the trigger for me. I left for boot camp and ever since then it's been an adventure. In the Navy Reserve, I am a logistic specialist. Is a famous saying, which is you cannot fly without supply. I supply units with anything from uniforms to aircraft parts. In some cases, I've also been in charge of providing ammunition ordinance to different branches. I've gone to Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Afghanistan and I know that every single person that I've worked with, they have become my brother, my sister. Like with anything, when you start something new, it's scary. But I knew that this was for me and this was not going to stop me from being a mother. The stone is blue because it popped out of the ground too soon. The Navy has various programs that help single mothers like myself. When I have been deployed, there hasn't been a moment where I didn't feel that I wasn't connected with my daughter in some way shape or form. I'd read to her any book that was available for me to read. I know Melissa knows that I'm doing it all for her. I'm doing it to do exactly what my mother was trying to do with me to do better in life. The Navy Reserve gave me an opportunity to be a mother, be a sailor and have a civilian career at the same time. The Navy most definitely has made me a better mom. Just seeing that drive that she has just because she sees that mom is going places, she tells me there's no way mom that I can't outdo you. When she tells me that, it makes everything worth it. I grew up with an amazing mother. She always worked so hard to afford me nice things and give me a good childhood. I admire my mom so much because of her unconditional love and patience. I do have moments where I think I look at my mother, I look at my daughter, I look at myself and I feel like I'm living a dream because I would have never thought that this would be our life today. My name is Anna Montarosa and I'm a sailor in the United States Navy Reserve.