It was just another Saturday morning in the San Fernando
Valley. Living as a North Hollywood girl for five years already. My mom’s
mariachi music woke me up at 6:00 am. Growing up with a Latin mom, I knew that
loud music in the morning meant that we all needed to get up and start cleaning
the house. Laying on my bed, looking at the ceiling, I decided to roll to the
other side of my bed hoping to sleep a little longer. As I attempted to close
my eyes again, I heard my mom saying: It is time to get up. As I got up and
knelt down to say a little prayer to my Father in Heaven, I could smell from my
room the clean floor from the living room. I enjoyed that familiar “Fabuloso
Cleaner” smell that my Latin mom would always use. I started walking towards
the living room when another smell caught my attention. It was mom’s delicious
Mexican breakfast. As I got closer to the kitchen, my heart felt happy to see
on the table warm delicious tortillas, queso fresco, fried beans, and eggs
prepared in the Mexican style (huevos a la Mexicana). Mom saw me close to the
kitchen and asked me to help her set up the table. I hurried and helped her, when
you are Mexican, you know you don’t want your mom to tell you to do something
twice. In less than 5 minutes my family and I were sitting around the table
eating breakfast that mom prepared for us. We were all laughing and just
enjoying each other. We would just talk about random things, perhaps nothing
really important but, it was the feeling that I got every time I was with my
family that made everything make sense. It made everything worth it, even the
little things. I’m grateful for my family and for the things I was able to
enjoy. How could I not miss my wonderful stepdad’s advice on how to be a hard
worker? How could I not love my mother’s amazing sense of humor? How could I
not remember my brother Alfredo teasing me all the time and our little play
fights on how he never wanted to share his food with me? How could I not miss
my little brother’s contagious loud laugh? How wonderful it is to have a
family. How wonderful it is to know that these people truly love you, there
might be arguments once in a while, but no matter what, your family will always
love you and be there for you. It is a wonderful blessing to be part of a
family. And I’m grateful for mine.
- Karla Selene Torres Chavez
