Simply Me

This post is about what you don’t see when you see me face to face.

My mother had me at age 17. She was born in Mexico to a poor family. Her parents both hardworking, were trying to provide enough for her and seven other siblings. My mother’s father was a man who was often drunk and violent. Due to his actions, her mother also would break under pressure and cause continuous fighting and arguing. My mother decided to move out to her uncles place at age 15 to go to school and study as a secretary. A man who would often visit her uncle’s family began talking to my mother and soon my mother and he began a relationship. Though he was about ten years older than her, I believe my mother was looking for fatherly love and misunderstood the meaning of it and thought she found it in him. According to my mom, she told me this man had sexually abused her and due to the abuse she became pregnant of me. As soon as her father found out of the pregnancy, he demanded her to go to America to live with her step sister in California. She didn’t do it until after she went to New Jersey and lived with this man for a while. She later found out that this man was married and had children of his own. That is when she finally decided to move to California to her step sister’s house. 

Months later, I was born. Her sister would work in the fields and would often invite fellow co-workers in for dinner. Some of the fellow co-workers that were invited were a man and his 27 year old son. This 27 year old man is the man I call my father! My mom she said was the least interested in him when he would come over. My dad on the other hand was completely the opposite. Due to insistence and motivation he won her over. He has been my father since I was two months old and to me that’s more than a blessing.