Mi Voz, Mi Vida by Andrew Garrod Robert Kilkenny Christina Gómez

Author:Andrew Garrod, Robert Kilkenny, Christina Gómez [Andrew Garrod, Robert Kilkenny, Christina Gómez]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Education & Teaching, Higher Education, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Cultural Studies, Ethnic Studies, Biography & Memoir
ISBN: 9780801463792
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2012-12-17T05:00:00+00:00

After singing a song over and over, I fell to the floor, exhausted. I lay watching a cloud cross and slip behind the roof of my house. The aquamarine bungalow was built by my mother’s father out of spare wood from a construction site. I loved this small palace, especially the tin roof, which made a wonderful symphony when it rained. I really did not mind that rain also meant water would pour in to our house through the holes in the rusted roof. Thirteen family members were crammed in to this one-room bungalow, with rooms defined by carefully patched curtains. I slept on an old mattress with five other people. We had no running water and had to use a latrine, but I had no complaints: I had plenty to eat and tons of space to play.

My mom usually called me every night. My grandmother would always tell me my mother was in America working very hard to send me money for food, clothing, school, and that one day I would live with her in America. “Be nice,” my grandmother would whisper as I picked up the phone, “Dile te quiero” (Tell her that you love her).

One day my mother did call to say she was ready to bring me to the States. The INS process had delayed this for almost five years. This kind of cruel separation occurs in many families; the process of reuniting loved ones can take years. My mother considered herself lucky that she only had to wait five years to reunite with her only child—a child whose first steps and first words she had missed. My mom vowed to never miss another special moment in my life.

My grandmother raised me, she witnessed my important moments, and she was not ready to let me go. But soon my mother was at our door with new shoes and a new dress for me and, most important, a one-way plane ticket to JFK airport. My father was by her side, and we left my childhood palace hand in hand, ready for a new beginning.

The next period of my life, though it offered its share of challenges, was one of the happiest times I’ve known. I was not only part of a family but of a team whose goal was to live the American dream. My parents were living a very hard life. My mother had two full-time jobs and was a part-time student. My dad worked as a cab driver for sixteen to eighteen hours a day. But we were happy. Their discipline and determination were contagious, and my family asked nothing of me other than to do my best in school. That was my job, they told me, but the weight of being a good student did not fall solely on my shoulders. My mom made a schedule to maximize the time we could spend together and to make sure she could help me with my homework. My dad would wake me at 6:30 in the morning and get me ready for school.

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