The Manuscript

Since you're waiting for midnight to welcome 2026, grab some popcorn! This might take a while! Thank you for being here and spending part of your New Year's Eve with me(or New Year's Day if your time is ahead of mine).

Sometimes, I go through my old stuff and find letters from early teenage me to future me lol. Well, as this is the LAST full year that I am in my 20s, I want to share my 20s key moments...

So let's go back a little bit into my teens, during a time that I did not have a green card, and life was a huge question mark.

First glance from when you opened this, your first thought was probably, "DAMN, this is long!" So I guess that tells you how much I truly LOVE to share stories. When I was 17, I fell in love with writing, creating stories, but I also loved law. I knew that what would make me money was going to law school one day, I wanted to be like my stepdad’s best friend, who just happens to be my childhood bestie’s uncle! We had been friends since the moment we met when I was 8 years old. He was my first friend when I came into this country with nothing but my Barbie’s olive green Mustang convertible. To say the least, we became family. Anyway, back to me being 17 years old…. I rejected my university acceptances because I didn’t have a green card at the time. My green card arrived in the mail a few months later, and I couldn't go back and take back my rejection, so I went to community college and chose to study law. Being newly 18 and wanting to explore what the world is like, I focused on school and going out with my girls every other day, and tried to get in shape. Unfortunately, I lost my passion of creating stories and writing about the most random things, but I had a green card now and Barcelona became the place I’d run to whenever something went wrong, or the place to be at for my future birthdays, because god forbid anyone ever ruin my birthday, so I took it upon my own hands to always make my birthdays as extravagant as possible, to repay for the years I couldn't go anywhere. Plus, flights to countries around Spain were only a few Euros! 

And this is where my 20s begin.

Let's start off high with the breakup of my high school sweetheart and I. He was a huge hockey fan, I thought he knew everything hockey related! During the last few months of our relationship, I was religiously watching every VGK game. This isn't why we broke up, but after we broke up, he fell off the face of the earth and I never heard from him again. Hockey became the only thing that I really had left of him. I thought it would be fun to cheer for a different team than the one my ex liked, the LA Kings. Joke’s on me, I became OBSESSED with hockey and VGK!!! I also fell in love with Taylor Swift’s (an artist I never thought I’d be in love with) Reputation album, so I randomly bought a $50 ticket to go watch her at the Rose Bowl. ANNDDD I was ready to get the cropped hoodie snake t-shirt! Funny enough, the only undergrad college friends I had, we called each other Snakes LOL I love them, and if they are reading this, I am so proud of you guys and the families you guys have created!!!!

A few years before I graduated from undergrad, I started studying for the LSAT. I was determined to be like my stepdad’s best friend, but only one day, when I asked for mentorship, he shut my dream down so quickly. I shut down and put my LSAT study book away…. Never to be opened again. My fault for letting it get to me like that. I never held it against him, and I still don't because I can just sign up for the LSAT at any moment, you know? So I definitely don't blame him. I still graduated with a Bachelor’s in Business and Finance Law! I just didn’t know what to do with that now that I didn’t want anything to do with law…. Barcelona became my home, and I went blonde! New me who dis!

I came back to LA for a “short time” to pack clothes to take back to Barcelona. I decided to take ice skating lessons so that I could have fun while I waited to go back to Barcelona. I met my online long distance One Direction Twitter bestie, Alina, when she came to visit me. My first Twitter friend to stay at my house!! We became so close even after all those years since we were teenagers. We truly became sisters, and then the world CLOSED?! People were fighting for toilet paper, hand sanitizer. But there was not a lot of pollution anymore, stars became visible, we learned what it was like to sit at home and just learn a new skill/hobby, kids weren’t dying in schools... and people grew tired of being treated unfairly in this country; therefore, citizens stood up for their rights. 

Because of COVID, I spent more time with my own family, as well as my stepdad’s bestfriend’s family, again, like we did in my younger years, they were basically like my family. My childhood friend was everything to me, he was someone who could do no wrong in my eyes. I remember for my 24th birthday when I saw him on my birthday during lockdown, it was just my family and us. At certain points throughout my life, I had hoped he'd notice me, and then it finally happened like a birthday wish that came true 8 days later. I was so happy, I had loved him too much my entire life, I had never seen a future without him…. but life wasn’t too kind to him and his family in 2021, and unfortunately I was there and I remember it all too well, but that's not my business to talk about. I got a therapist. My 25th birthday basically shot me(metaphorically), and the day after Valentine’s day in 2022 pushed me to my limit.  We were all still grieving and understandably, his reality was no where close to mine and he was in a state of sadness. My life was still going on, I was back at work, life became life again, the world was open and I wanted to get more into the VGK world. We clashed about everything, I had new friends, I was hosting VGK Twitter meetup events, and in the end, that became the ultimate reason why he left…. I don’t want to be dramatic but you understand why this made me spiral, right? Losing him felt like losing the biggest part of my life; our childhood memories, our teenage years, half of my twenties, all of my key moments had something to do with him, hell, he taught me how to drive! I had learned to ride a bike with him when I was 9! I had loved him my entire life and I was ready to keep loving him for the rest of my life. When he left, I finally understood Bella in New Moon…. There were so many feelings that I had to process, I had to let go of memories dating back to my childhood. I was mad at myself, I’d ask myself over and over if wanting to get into the sports world was even worth losing the guy I loved? I had to put myself in his shoes, I was the last thing he needed to worry about, and I understood and I still understand- he was going through a lot. I was so depressed, I wrote all my feelings down, cried almost every day, promised myself I’d let myself wallow as much as I needed to. I didn’t remember what life was like without him and his family. I knew this pain wouldn’t be forever, but I prayed every night to wake up a future version of myself, a new me, who was no longer hurting from losing someone special for reasons that didn’t have to be. I wouldn't do any of this for a second time though, that would make me feel the way Monica felt after her breakup with Richard.

I needed to stay busy at ALL times, I NEEDED to be productive. I was in my room writing all of my feelings down when one day, I asked my friend if I could write VGK articles for the blog she contributed to. I was once again finding joy in writing, especially about something I never saw coming. Me writing hockey articles? Someone go tell high school me, she needs a laugh! Anyways, I made more friends, and saved up money working as a waitress. Nobody talks about the graduating class of 2019 having a hard time finding work due to COVID, but it sure did have an effect on many of us.

On my 26th birthday in 2022, I was visiting my high school bestie, who now lives in Florida. We had a roadtrip from Miami to Orlando, when we got to her Orlando home, I had a million messages to check Twitter. When I checked my notifications, VGK had wished me a happy birthday. I fell on the carpet floor and scratched my knees accidentally, I cried like never before. I think of that version of myself now and I cry for her all over again, because for an entire year that version of me just wanted a birthday that wasn’t like the 25th birthday version of me. I didn’t know if any other birthday would be able to top that!! I think that’s when I finally began to find happiness again, even when I played You’re On Your Own Kid on repeat. Summer of 2022 in my mind reminds me of a Summer in Sicily, Italy, except it was hot Vegas, and I was partying with VGK!

By the end of 2022, I submitted my VGK articles and applied for grad school. It was time I stopped regretting not getting my communications/journalism degree… I also started recording more videos of my happiest times and put small clips of them into a minute long video at the end of the year. I call them my end of year video with a song that represents what every year was for me, LOL.

2022 End of Year Video link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmkygBMBv63XMmvTuN7UGJXJB9hbzAfp-w8PGw0/

Journal entry that I posted a year and three months later.

On 1/11/23 I promised myself that if I got into grad school I was going to marry my career, so I got my first big girl job that I had to use my undergrad degree for, and saved up as much money I could, so I could pay for school. Turns out I did get into grad school and treated myself to a Dubai birthday that year, but do you remember when I said nothing would top my 26th birthday? I was wrong…. My birthday became VGK’s first (and only, so far) Stanley Cup winning eve. That’s right, I was in Dubai wishing for a Stanley Cup win on my birthday, and we got it the next day. I’m also thankful I record myself for almost everything because watching myself celebrating VGK’s Stanley Cup win in fucking DUBAI for my 27th birthday is a sentence that would have every version of me shook for many different reasons; the 2022 version of me who just wanted a nice birthday again, the 2014 version of me who wanted a green card to get an education, the 2005-2014/8-18 year old version of me who was scared of deportation, the 2002 version of me who wondered about the American Dream and if it was as real as people said.

I felt like I was finally Out Of The Woods!!! Shortly after the game, it was when I came across a sports media viral post about a Latina sports reporter from Florida who had to defend herself from a VGK fan on live television while she was reporting. What happened to her did not sit right with me for a very long time, because that looked scary! Then, she was also receiving insults from some VGK fans on the internet. I didn’t like that at all. 

2023 End of Year Video link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1IQA_QSBfPeAguCHPXrKhgzGtfadJM-i595540/

I focused on grad school. I wrote hockey articles, as well as Taylor Swift articles about attending The Eras Tour. I even got a scholarship for it in the Spring semester of 2024! Life was good, I was focused on school, work, and myself. School definitely destroyed me that first year because I overworked myself and I was hella broke, but I had a beautiful, quiet 28th birthday of just me driving around Island Catalina in a golf cart by myself all paid for by my friends. It's INSANE how they pulled up for me!!

I enjoyed my last Summer of being a student EVER; I worked out in the mornings, tanned every mid-day, read hella books, and worked at night. I went to every sporting event to have fun, and every sporting/journalism networking event my friends would invite me to. I remember being invited to the NAHJ event by my friend from the LA Times, and one day  I was walking back from eating Chik Fil A  (I didn’t even wanna eat Chik Fil A that day lol), I looked up and walked right past the sports reporter that went viral the year prior after VGK won the Stanley Cup!!! WHAT?!?!?!? So I ask her, “S*?!” and I vividly remember her saying, “Hi yes you seem familiar! Where do I know you from?” and I told her “Hi I’m Miley, I follow you on Twitter! And first of all, on behalf of all VGK fans I would like to apologize for the VGK fan from last year. We’re not all like that!” We exchanged information, she followed me back on social media, and we kept up with each other since.

When fall semester came along, I was refreshed and felt like a whole new person, but immediately stressed out on the first day of school because I was apparently supposed to have chosen a topic for my thesis during the Summer! I hadn’t even thought about school, I had focused on myself!!!!! Isn’t that what Summer is all about?!?!?!??!!!! Whatevah, hot girl Summer forevah. 

My classmates and I brainstormed ideas for my thesis for about two weeks, and we came up with Latina Women In The Sports Industry since that’s what I wanted to do. It is a very small community that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention, so why not do a bit of digging on the subject to show the lives of what Latina women go through to have the careers that they have. Thing is, I didn’t know who to reach out to interview, would anyone even want to be interviewed for this? I googled Latina journalists, and lord behold S* was there, and I was like, hold up, she just messaged me a few minutes ago about my IG story! But like, I can ask her? Second of all, should I ask her? Would that be weird? I needed to just shoot my shot and when I finally did, she agreed. The Miami grad school trip was going to be lit, and the flight was supposed to land at 1:11pm? Numbers baby! 

I honestly think Miami was a 2024 turning point that would be the first shooting star into 2025. My first few hours there, I was eating at Raising Canes one moment and then I ended up on a yacht with some random girls! But let me tell you, this was such a memorable moment, I still look back at photos and remind myself of how I’m thankful to live every day, to take every moment and make the best of it. I think this feeling comes to me a lot whenever I travel, but this one a little more because it was a trip for my thesis. That night ended with getting asked out to both pizza and Nobu, I chose to hang by myself and went to Raising Canes again instead for some food and a sticker of a pink convertible with a man and a dog by his side. I thought it was really cute, and hey, maybe one day that could be my dog and I... Right? Right? Anyways, I ever mentioned S*’s character? Not only is she beautiful on the outside, but she’s much much more beautiful on the inside. She was so accommodating to me to the point where I felt as if I had gone to visit family in Miami. She was just so wonderful to be around! I’m thankful for the experience, to get away for a while even if I was in school mode. I spent the entire day with her talking about her life, the jobs she has had, the work she has done, what she had to overcome to be at the place she’s at career wise. During the interview, she said my favorite phrase "fake it till you make it" and I almost cried during that moment. It’s just so important for me for there to be representation in sports, for example, one day I found out that the LA Kings host a Salvadoran night?! With a pre-game party???? You bet I snuck in, OOPS!!!

2024 End of Year Video link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEQXTtuy7IXkdHD5nLh5vbknP2MSEmoZXpj2v40/

Throughout my 20s I’ve visited quite a handful of countries. I once felt caged, I couldn’t leave the country, I thought I’d never see my family again unless they visited me. From the moment I got my green card I booked it to Spain, Italy, Andorra, France, Portugal, U.K., Ireland, Mexico, Guatemala, Dubai, finally back home to El Salvador, and lastly, Canada. Ah, my Toronto getaways this year….

You know what else I’m thankful for? My friends. I’m lucky enough to have people to travel for, but getting there on 1/11/25 at 12:26AM was a little ICONIC too!!! Numbers baby!! So I got 111 tattooed in red. I’m having an out of topic thought that I need to leave right here in this paragraph…. LOL… You know when, you think about a happy moment, but you think of who was there with you… or who should’ve been there with you… or you think of the pain you felt in that moment, but you don’t want to leave footprints of yourself being in that state of mind because it’s just that in the moment it’s important but deep down you know it doesn’t matter? I think my version of footprints is lyrics lol, the beginning of January already felt like I had gotten away with a crime or something, my heart was beating fast, as if I was riding in a Getaway Car.

My first car ever, Betty, broke down one day so I rented a Mustang convertible to go to school for that day only, and that changed the entire trajectory of 2025. Two weeks after Betty broke down, I BOUGHT a convertible Mustang. This made 9 year old Miley heal from when she lost her Barbie Mustang in 2006.. My car is a he, and his name is Clyde, The Getaway Car (Yes, just like the Taylor Swift song!). Clyde was pretty ugly and malnourished when I bought him, but every paycheck I earned, I’d buy him something to enhance his aesthetics/performance.

I learned to work on my own car, as well as learned to drive faster! No one talks about what it’s like going from a car that is always getting honked at for going slow, to a car that people move to a slower lane for so I can pass them! I called this an early graduation gift for myself, from myself. I very much deserved it. I even started a new job, at a LAW FIRM so it could hold me over that semester before I graduated. Turns out I ended up loving my job, and loving the people I worked with.

School stress on top of newfound work stress and general stress, but I still made sure I was available for VGK games with friends! VGK always gave me hope while I was stressed, even when they weren't doing too well. After the game against the Leafs in March, I remember asking the friend I made at the Salvadoran night at the LA Kings that if he ever worked with VGK to please let me help. My Toronto friend had come to see me and I was really happy, but the moment I stepped into the Vegas airport, I remembered the last time I was there was to go to Miami for my thesis. “They said babe you gotta fake it till you make it and I did!!! Lights, camera, bitch smile!!!” I sang to myself over and over. 

I drove my Mustang convertible on May 6, 2025 to defend my thesis in my VGK Lululemon sweater for good luck. I got there hours early to practice my speech, to ask myself random questions, I was ready to fight for this thesis. It’s my baby! But yeah, I passed, and I sobbed like never before, even more than when VGK wished me a happy birthday lol. But right after I passed my thesis, I remember wondering if I would ever get to do anything VGK-related in the sports world, would I ever be a Latina in the sports industry? I thought about my future… I thought about how I had a nice gig at the lawfirm…. I didn’t want to give one thing up for the other…. I called all my family and friends to let them know the news, they all thought I didn’t pass with the way I was crying LOL I get it though! My fault! Then, I drove around with my car’s convertible top down screaming, “I passed! I passed!” Days later, I took my graduation photos with my dog Jacob. I really do everything with him don’t I? High school graduation photos, Undergrad graduation photos, and now grad school photos? I’m so lucky! We even took some pics in my car. No seriously what is this reality that I am living in? I gave my blood, sweat, and tears for this all throughout my 20s. And my degrees? YOU CAN'T TAKE THEM AWAY FROM ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That beautiful graduation ring I bought, signifies the fact that I married my career the way I said I would. A wise woman once said, "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail."

2 Years Summed Up In 7 Minutes: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJ4WiOdpCh5x5EdfS16mzey9KQ7urZjohQLHpQ0/

Jacob turned 12 a few days after graduation, so I treated him to a trip to Pismo Beach! I really am a lucky girl right? I’m thankful he has been through it all with me. I get tons of compliments on how for his age, he acts like he’s such a young dog, and it’s the highest compliment for me. I’ve taken such insane care of him from the moment I met him, but I know somewhere in my 30s, my heart will actually break and never to be put back together like usual, and I’m not exaggerating on this one.

My 29th birthday was filled with love from my coworkers, my friends, and my family. I’m thankful of how much I’ve worked in both my career and personal life. I also have to thank Twitter, for bringing me VGK friends as well as hockey friends all over the USA and other countries, even in Europe!

In September of this year, VGK asked me to collab with them, and with the help of my other friend who works for VGK, my friend who hosts Salvadoran nights and I presented the Salvadoran Knight idea to them,  and they decided to include us in their Los VGK Knight that (at the time) would take place on November 4. I mean, can you believe it?!!? From that VGK Twitter meet up in 2022, to being included in a Knight like this!!! MY NBC FRIEND EVEN ASKED TO INTERVIEW ME FOR NBC TO TALK ABOUT THE EVENT!!!!

Everything I had gone through suddenly became the most beautiful thing to have ever happened to me, even if it took yearssss. The pain I once felt, the stress, the heartbreak, everything came down to I really faked it till I made it. I put on a smile and didn’t stop. I protect past versions of me like no other, I cherish my good and bad decisions, and I think that’s what bumps on the road while trying to find yourself again is all about. CRY AND KEEP GOING!!!!! I waited agessss to see this version of myself, I prayedddd for this version of myself for a veryyyy long time.

I was no longer stuck on the ‘what ifs’ of the decisions I had made when I was younger. I forgave people I never thought I’d speak to again, just because someone broke my heart in my early 20s doesn’t mean I should hate them forever, you know? We’ll never be those two people again, but to forever hate someone who got me into something that I am passionate about(hockey)? I don’t feel that anger towards him anymore; in fact, I thank him daily. He gave me the key to something that makes me happy. Hockey is literally my entire personality. I even play hockey now, every Sunday, baby!!! High school sweetheart, if you’re reading this, thank you!!! Oh and I know more hockey than you! Hehehehehe!

November was a very out of body experience month. The LosVGK Knight happened, NBC played my interview again, I attended the event and saw the Salvadoran flag on the jumbotron inside the arena that I love so much!! For the first time ever!! Hell, even being included in a Knight like this was for the first time ever!!!! I will never forget that with the help of my friends, I helped bring inclusivity like this to the team I love the most. I am very proud of myself, proud of every decision, and every lesson. Oh, my high school sweetheart even came to support the event!!! So to answer the question I asked myself a few years ago, yeah it was all worth it. I really did get the best of both worlds. All of my delulu became trululu!!!!! 

I’m looking forward to this new chapter, especially because on 11/19, my baby brother was born. I’m an older sister again!!!! CRAZY RIGHT?! I’ve always wanted a brother, I never thought my dad would be the one to give me the opportunity to be a big sister again. Especially at this age, but I will say, I’ve only felt a strong bond and need to be everything for someone twice in this life. The moment I met my baby sister almost 20 years ago, and now my baby brother. No matter what happens, I will always be looking over my siblings. Emphasis on the NO MATTER WHAT.

2025 End of Year Video link: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DS8lYzekncMQwWTTRHY1ihyd7sbgbLXEjtJbSw0/

Goodbye to the last full year of being in my 20s. Extremely thankful to grow older every day. Age and wrinkles don’t scare me as long as I’m hot!! 

No, but seriously, you really are the most important project you will ever work on. So if I could give my two cents on a little piece of advice… Let things hurt for as long as they have to. Don’t ever limit yourself for the way you grieve. Stay honest with yourself. Work hard, you gotta save up for retirement apparently! Buy a good life insurance policy, add to a 401k, invest in a good full coverage car insurance with high limits that includes uninsured motorists! They don't teach you this in school, bruh! And lastly, you're on your own, kid, yeah, you can face this.