Sonia Carballo

My love and admiration for my mother is immense for all the situations she had to endure to move forward with her life. Her life is an example of how the turbulence in one's life isn't easy. As a small town girl living in poverty, with three other siblings under a judgmental, cold, religious mother and a mellow, strict, conformist father childhood, was bleak and isolated. The fact of living your childhood straight from school and housework was tiring and miserable for a child.

As when she became fifteen she got married and became pregnant with my eldest sibling Juan Carlos. She dropped out of high school her sophomore year and began raise her child with the help of my grandmother. When being pregnant with my sister Gabriella, my mother began to suffer seven years of domestic violence. My mother was beaten and humiliated. By 21 my mother finally decided to file a divorce from him and start living her life.

She got a job and finally could enjoy going out and working for her and her children. She worked in a clothing factory. She worked hard and went up the corporate ladder until she was managing the whole factory. She bought her house and met my father at a night out. She fell deeply in love with my father and he was the reason why she came to America. My father already had a good life here in California.

My mother's experience in America was pleasant. She had met the love of her life and had me. But then became a widow shortly after. She sank into a deep depression and suffered inflammation in her brain. My mother got short term memory loss and her frustration of life only grew. She now was a stranger to a new country with a child and no one to help her. She babysat to support me and her. We always barely got by. Until three years ago she got an actual job and now we live better.

My mother always found a way to put her family through for their well being. Despite all the things she had to deal with in life she always pulled through. She has never taken a step backward only forward. With pride I call her my mother.