Since I can remember, my family and I lived in the ghetto; don’t get me wrong we were not dirty people, let me define ghetto. For some living in the ghetto is opening cans with a knife instead of a can opener which I had to do a lot of times. I love being a Mexican because we always find a way!!! Viva la Raza… LOL
Anyways, yes I am proud to say I was fortunate to have those ugly ass Medicaid glasses when I was a kid because we were too poor to have the pretty, classy ones; the important thing was I could see! If you had Medicaid in the 1990’s then you know what I am taking about.
(The mobile home)
I was fortunate to have the welfare cheese, damn was that cheese good! We were poor, but fortunate to have food on the table even though it was beans. The clothes I owned was either from the flea market or yard sales; man I remember those times! I hated getting up at 5am on the weekend to go to the damn yard sales. My parents would get the paper and look for the good yards sales in which we used to say the rich lived LOL, but I was fortunate to have clothes on my back. I have to admit that when I found an outfit that was so pretty, I felt like a princess; yes it was used but it was now mine.
At times my parents were so poor striving to make a living, Santa would not come, but guess what if I got lucky; he would come the day after Christmas in a Salvation Army bus with lots of toys and a basket of food, man that was like the best feeling ever; it wasn’t a slay but it was Santa Clause.
I had lived in a mobile home for as long as I could remember, until a couple of months ago I still lived in the same mobile home in which I grew up in and which is almost close to dust because it is falling apart. But you know what? I wouldn’t change my hardships, at times I actually thank God for them because they have helped me appreciate what is important.
My family never ever had new things, our furniture, dishes, clothes, etc. you name it, it was either from the thrift shop, flea market, or yard sales; but yet we were thankful for what we had.
Now I have been blessed with a mansion!!! That is what our new home is to me, a mansion, and yes for the first time in my life I have a NEW couch; it was in layaway for a several weeks and had to make several payments before I could finally bring it home,but it now sits beautifully in our new home.
(The NEW couch)
The dishes are still the same ones because I had a box that I had been saving to open for when the day I bought my house finally came; let me explain!
When I worked in retail at Foleys at the mall, things would fall down in price when they were discontinued and I would put them on my Foleys credit card if I was lucky to find the opportunity. At times being a single mom, it was hard to do that, but life is a risk, after 9 years of them being boxed up they now sit in my new house kitchen cabinets.
Retail is a hard and dirty job, and I used to complain about it when I left, but know that I think about it working there was a blessing because I was able to get the deals after the season was over. I would wait till summer was over to buy my son summer clothes for the following year, I would buy them big so when summer came again; he would be set. I did the same thing with winter. I used to get brand named clothing for my hijito, at times for $1 each. That was the bonus of working there; the down fall was I only got paid $6.50 hr. and worked like a dog. Worked random hours, never had weekends off, and hardly got to see my son; he was practically always at daycare!
This is why I decided to go back to school, to show my son the importance of education and that if you don’t have it life will be harder. One day I was sitting in my USED couch that was handed down to me from three generation thinking, Cristina you can do it, you can make a difference and give your son the life you never had. My son has always been the weapon of me being were I am now, and you know what? I’m still not done, there is still much more to do.
Those who have never been poor will never know the hardships and the feeling of having something other than beans for dinner. I am blessed and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love my life and I am thankful for what I have learned because I have character, courage and the strength to tell people to fuck off if I need to; I will have great stories to tell my grandchildren, that is if I make it there.
Now at 27 years old I have been blessed with buying a new house! It’s not a new model, but it is mine, and it is not a mobile home located in a bad neighborhood. I have had to strive and work hard for what I have and I wouldn’t change it for the world because I can say I did it on my own even while being a single mother! So no one can tell me shit.
(The NEW home)
If you didn’t go through at least a few things I mentioned, then you were RICH in my eyes and you will never see what it truly is to appreciate not having anything. Even with that we were considered Middle Class because there are worst things in life, and everyday I pray for the hungry in Mexico and around the world who don’t even have a piece of bread to eat or clean water to drink. So do I consider my self blessed? Yes I do! So if I was finally able to buy a NEW couch after the shit I been through in my life, I hell ass have earned it, and I didn’t ask anyone to buy it for me!!!
(The USED dinning table)
Oh and before I forget, the dinning table is complementary of my dearest best friend “Lluvia”. Thank you my sista, it looks great in our kitchen, I love you and I know that your childhood was way harder than mine. You had to pick the fields out in the hot sun while still being a kid. That is why we are who we are now! We do share one thing in common though; both of our mothers had to deal with our alcoholic fathers. God bless these women for their strength and will power to raise us kids even through the worst of circumstances.Viva the Ghetto and thank God for those wonderful times because they have made me who I am.
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