My Champ By Edwin Gonzalez

          She was born in a small town in Puerto Rico - Cayey to be exact. It's about an hour from San Juan and would be considered ‘el campo' or the country for us on the main land. Her mother was very religious and her father was the typical alcoholic, abusive, and ultimate ‘Machismo' Puerto Rican male. She had an older brother and a younger sister making her the middle child, but that was not to last long. During one of her father's drunken rampages, her mother grabbed her younger sister and fled with the promise of returning to get the older two children. She would never see her mother again, and would only reunite with her younger sister when she was in her late forties. Her father would remarry and have several more children, bringing the total number to thirteen - she was now the second oldest. Her step mother had neither hate nor love for her and took her out of the second grade and made her care for the rest of the children. She now became servant and slave for the family. She did all the chores demanded of her while the rest of her siblings played and received a proper education.

            Eventually, she would meet a young man and marry and leave the island and move onto the land of hope and happiness - the United States. She would travel everywhere and eventually settle in New Jersey. She started out on welfare, but instead of being like the many that continue to live in that state both her and her husband would succeed in getting out of it. They would hold two or three jobs at a time and eventually buy their own home. Then they had their first child - a son. Five years later, they owned four houses on the same block. They would rent each of the apartments to people that seemed to be in a familiar state like they were when they first arrived. She would then have her second child - another son.

            After raising her sons to adulthood, she and her husband retired back to Puerto Rico, it was inevitable. She lives there now in a gorgeous house in where else - Cayey. She volunteers at the local hospital, while her husband organizes a neighborhood watch. Her sons come to visit every chance they get. The younger marries and has three children, while the oldest can neither marry nor have kids since he is gay and is in the front lines battling for his rights. To her it does not make a difference, she loves them both. She visits her younger son when he needs help with the kids and she joins her eldest son on one of his many battles to enlighten the world.

            You will never hear her speak ill will about her past. She says that without that past she would not be where she is today. Who is this person? Well of course she is my mom. I love her so dearly and she has taught me so much, inspiring me every second of every day. MY CHAMP!!!!!!!!!