I was born in Papantla, Veracruz a 16th of July. Papantla is small, green, warm city in the North of the Veracruz state. It is known as the city perfuming the world, due to its production of vanilla. When you first enter the city you find it amazing because all you can see is green hills all over, people walking everywhere to attend their affairs. In one of those hills my grandparents house is located, a house which is built with love, there in that house, I was born. My grandmother was a nurse and when she retired she dedicated to deliver babies to the world right there in her "cuartito de curación". The first people I saw when I was born were my aunt and my grandmother, they said the first thing I did was smile. So I smiled to the world when I was born, I guess I was happy and loved.
I spend my babyhood going forth and back between Toluca and Papantla. When I came to Toluca, where my parents lived, I got sick so doctors said I should be kept in a warm place, I missed home. I spent the three months of my life with my grandparents in Papantla, then I came back to be with my parents.
A year later, my brother came to my life. I don´t quite remember those times, but everyone said I loved my brother and I stole his food. I jumped into his cradle and took his milk bottle. I guess I was pleased to have a mate, someone to play with and be with. His name was Gerardo.
And life went on, then a few years later my sister showed up, Lupita. She was born four years later, bringing a new sparkle to the family, even though my brother did´t like her that much. Now, we were a family of five.
I lived in a familiar environment. My grandparents organized meals every Saturday with the excuse of bringing together all families. It was fun, I grew up arounf 7 cousins and 2 siblings, that was a bunch of kids, but it was fun.
When the time came, I went to kinder garden, I cried the first days, I used to grab hard the entrance door not to go in. I hated school, eventually, I got used to it. I remember there was a wall covered with bushes with small red fruit sort of things. Everybody told us not to eat them because we could get sick. We made stories about it, we used to say they were poisoned by a witch who lived in the other side of the wall and she also had a monster who ate children, everybody was afraid to jump the wall. What an imagination.
Time passed by and it was time to go to elementary school. It was a lot of fun, there I met my true friends Gaby, Rebeca, Julieta and Lucy, there were other girls as well but eventually we ended up some other places so it was hard to keep in touch. It was the five of us who sticked together long after elementary years. We had so much fun together, every Friday we invited each other to supper at our homes, we played and played and played. It was amazing! The only thing I don´t like about elementary school was that I started wearing glasses. I hated those things!!! At that time, it wasn´t very common for kids to wear them so I was kind of the only one using them, you can imagine how funny it was for the others. Because of that I had a hard time learning how to read and write, I couldn´t see very well the blackboard. But once I had the glasses the academic part was great.
I then went to middle school, lots of things changed at that time. For starters I went from a public school to a private one, so the rules were different, but there I also found great friends to hang out with. The thing which remain the same was that my friend Gaby went to that same school so it was great to have a familiar face around. Another difference was that boys now were important, I had a crush on this guy who never looked at me, now I´m thankful for it. I didn´t get the chance to graduate with my friends since I had to go to the US because of my father´s job. It was painful, but I am thankful for it. I had the opportunity to learn english in a way which was different, since I actually lived in English. We moved to Michigan, West Bloomfield to be precise, one of Detroit´s suburbs. The experience was awesome. My father took us to a lot of different places, even though we missed our family back home we enjoyed being there. It was the first time I saw snow, it was cold but at the same time, it was fun. It gave us another thing to do in the winter, an outdoor activity. School was easy, kids there were so different, much grown, much open and experienced. I had an ESL class, there I met two of the friends I hanged out with, Yomarie, a Puerto rican girl and Juliana a Brazilian girl. It was great knowing them, I even got to learn a little Portuguese. Another thing I enjoyed very much was having classes with my brother, I felt somehow protected. We received visitors during the summer so it was fun to take them to different places and be with people familiar, don´t get me wrong, we had such good friends there, but I guess family will always be family.
When the time came, we came back. It was hard to find a school which would be willing to re validate our studies there, that was when our parents got us to the Tec. That was a challenge, school in the US was way too easy, they didn´t force students to memorize but to think and come back and get used to a different system wasn´t easy. Again, coming back was a new adventure. I made lots of friends and found old ones. It was in high school when I met my first boyfriend. It was a unforgettable experience, we stayed together for the next 5 years.
I stayed in the Tec to study my career: business administration. It was so different form the other stages I had went through. That was tough but Iwas able to get pass it succesfully. I had an amazing time when me and my friends decided to go to Toulousse, France for the summer to take some classes and mostly to travel around. Another unforgettable experience was the semester abroad, it was another challenge in my life but now that I look back I can say it made me grow and I got the opportunity to know a part of myself I wasn´t aware of. For the first time I had myself and then myself to do everything. There was no one there to hold me in case I needed it. But again, life showed me friends, who at that time became my family. I met my two dear friends Carla and Bhumi, I still keep in touch with them.
I graduated with honors, with job offers and no boyfriend. The truth is, I always believed it was he who I would get married with but I guess things are not always a one way wish. I didn´t go to any company. I decided to start my own business with a friend of mine. It was an exporting business, then I started teaching at the Tec, I loved that job and what started being a hobby and a part time job, it became a full time job; still in the afternoons I worked at my own company. It had to close because the sales were not enough to support us and the Chinese competition was tough. Right now, I am still working in the Tec and I own, along with other two friends, a small business. I am half way through my masters degree. I am married, 8 months married and satisfied to know there are a lot of opportunities and even though last year was tough and full of surprising events and rough changes, I know that life, just like Forrest Gump said, is like a box of chocolates and we must be ready and prepared to live fully at any time, because everything, no matter what, will eventually teach something.
I don´t know where or when my story will end, but as long as I live, I will dream, learn, share and love...
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