What a good day to create my blog’s “Personal Thoughts” section. Earlier in the day, as I read the daily news, I had to first think about the women around the world still fighting for some basic human rights on this International Women’s Day. It really gets you thinking about the world we live in. Women deserve our efforts to make sure they don’t have to deal with some of the norms that have suppressed generations and still haunt us in 2018! I remember being shocked as a young student learning that women had only been allowed to vote in 1920 in the United States of America. The Women’s Suffrage movement is reaching a century. My grandmother would have turned 100 last year.
The Image with Abuelita
My beautiful Abuelita was 60 years old when she took charge of raising me in a tiny village in Mexico after my father left in search of the northern American dream. My Native American, Mexican, Poor, Proud, and hard working grandmother is the matriarch of a family that she propelled to be their best. Whatever we accomplish, we can all look back at her strength and mighty shoulders. She wasn’t even five feet tall. I personally can thank her for my heart, my way of thinking, the respect I have for good and humble people no matter where they come from, and for my love for real food!
Let me confess something that I’ve always felt guilty about. I was trying out journalism in High School and nobody knew about my situation; I was sharing a living room with a day laborer, sleeping on the couch of cousin’s apartment, and taking three buses each day to get to school. I didn’t want to quit because my grandmother, who never learned to even read or write her own name, pushed me to always seek a good education. For the yearbook they wanted a baby picture from the newspaper staff. I was voted “most earnest”. At some point my grandmother had taken us to the big pueblo to get a picture taken.
What a special image of the two of us starting our journey together. But, you know what I did? I cut out my face to comply to what they wanted. I remember feeling so terrible about it. I wanted to fit in and it cost me literally cutting myself out of an image next to the person who loved me the most.
Recovering this rare picture of me as a toddler is such a blessing. An aunt in Mexico City had a copy and she gave it to me a few years ago.
The Woman
My grandmother never made excuses even when things went completely wrong. She was always poised with dignity and was respected by everyone who knew her. I could count on her to be direct, stern, honest, tender, gentle, and respectful. I never wanted to maker her not proud of me. Being raised by her, I saw how much she gave and how little she expected in return, and that’s true for so many of the women in our world. But now more than ever I think women need us all to follow their lead. Maybe the amazing women of our past put their dreams on hold and found happiness with the givens, but that doesn’t mean they wanted it to continue in perpetuity.
Being the most experienced and prepared in history didn’t turn out as expected in H.R.C. as first woman president for this nation, but seeing the disaster that took office, has led to a record number of women seeking office. I love that. Women are now trying to take an even stronger lead. We need women in the highest powers- and they will make things better for all of us. That I get to help raise a girl is a very special blessing in my life. I’m excited to pass on some of my grandmother’s spirit to my daughter. The good thing is that I’m not doing it alone. I’m a fine enough man to have found an amazing woman to be my life partner, my wife, and she and I are devoted to raising our future president 🙂 – she has already taken part in the Women’s March with us.
I wanted to capture a very similar image to the one with my grandmother. It is a statement of my commitment to her in honor of the commitment my grandmother made to me. Today that little boy who found himself without parents and whose uncertain future was in the arms of a 60 year old powerful woman who said “I got this”, stands holding his daughter and repeats the same thing. If I can do half of what my Abuelita did for me, I will have succeeded.
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