By: Eduardo Sagastume
Ever since I could remember, my mother has been the foundation of my family. She has been my true day one. All of my siblings have taken her knowledge and become amazing people.
At the moment, we are broken, but I know she will be the light in the dark part of life we are in. I was three or four when we came to San Jose and when we did, life wasn’t the easiest. It was my mother and I, my two brothers, and my sister.
We had been rolling around different places in San Jose and most did not want to rent us a spot because of the amount of kids my mom had. In an interview I conducted on my mom, she said, “Nadie me quería rentar porque eran muchos niños.” [Translation: No one wanted to rent me because I had a lot of children.] We had been to about three different places and had stayed in my moms van prior to that.
It was very stressful because we wouldn’t sleep well but, my brothers friend had an extra room that he said we could rent. His father was nicknamed, “El tequila” and he gave us the okay to live there. My mom had no other choice and we stayed for a couple of months.
El tequila and his wife weren’t bad people but they had set boundaries to my mother. My older brothers would have to open the window for my mom to get into and out of our room. She said,
“Ya ves el tequila no me dio llave de la casa, no quería que yo saliera, y me tenia que brincar por la ventana para poder salir.” [Translation: You see El tequila did not give me the key to the house, and he did not want me to leave, and I had to jump out the window to get out and enter ]
He had a curfew for her as well, she told me, “El tequila, me decía que lo más tarde que yo podría llegar a la casa era a las diez de la noche. No más tarde porque no me iban a abrir la puerta.” [Translation: El tequila, told me that the latest that I could get to the house was at ten o’clock, no later because they were not going to open the door for me.]
The living conditions got very bad there. They would steal money from my mom, money that she didn’t have and they overdrafted her account on many occasions, and they would even hit me and my siblings.
But she got fed up after a while and made a radical choice to move for the better of her family, “Ya ves que tambien les pegaba, y por eso ya me sali de ahi” [Translation: You see that he also beat you, and that's why I got out of there.]
We finally moved from there and got a garage with the help of my mothers new boyfriend Rigoberto. We were solid there; we had a good time and they are times I wish I could go back to. Staying there was one of the best decisions to ever happen in my life.
My mom would not get sleep when we were moving from house to house and here she was getting the rest she desperately needed.
Due to unfortunate events, we moved into the Foxdale Apartments with my eldest brother Joe; we lived in a three bedroom apartment and life was getting pretty good.
It was all sunshine and rainbows and we as a family were getting very close. Slowly my brothers wife started hiding food from us and my brother soon did the same.
One specific memory I have with that is asking my brother for a piece of his leftover pizza and he said, “no get your own.” I was mortified because he was my older brother and up to that point my father figure.
This kind of treatment would continue as the months went on and it would go right under our noses. His wife would hide the laundry detergent and dish soap, the cereal and little snacks she bought for his daughters.
There was a big fight, physical and verbal and my brother ended up kicking us out. We had no where to stay and we would sleep outside of my moms job at Target in her van. She would use her breaks to check on us and make sure we were okay. My mom said, “cuando nos salimos del garaje que pasó con Alfredo(joe) que nos corrieron”
We stayed in that car for a couple months before getting an apartment with my step dad here in East Side San Jose.
I've grown up a lot since then and the life that my mother has given me is something that I cherish and are very grateful for. Now, we strive to live better and always remember the places we’ve come from.
My mother is my biggest inspiration, she never thought about giving up any of her kids, she’s undergone inhumane things, and is still here today, and even stronger. She has taught me so much in these past 17 years and I still have a lot to learn.
I asked her what’s something she hopes I’ve learned and retained from her being my mom and raising me, she said, “lo que yo quería que usted aprenda de mi es ser fuerte que nada te turbe, y responsable, que quando se caiga, se tiene que parar..”
[Translation: What I wanted you to learn from me is to be strong so that nothing will knock you down, and responsible, that when you fall, you have to get back up.
My mom has made such an immense impact on my life, it all revolves around her and making her life easier. I’ve become such a resilient individual because of her and I hope that her legacy will remain throughout my family forever.
Ever since I could remember, my mother has been the foundation of my family. She has been my true day one. All of my siblings have taken her knowledge and become amazing people.
At the moment, we are broken, but I know she will be the light in the dark part of life we are in. I was three or four when we came to San Jose and when we did, life wasn’t the easiest. It was my mother and I, my two brothers, and my sister.
We had been rolling around different places in San Jose and most did not want to rent us a spot because of the amount of kids my mom had. In an interview I conducted on my mom, she said, “Nadie me quería rentar porque eran muchos niños.” [Translation: No one wanted to rent me because I had a lot of children.] We had been to about three different places and had stayed in my moms van prior to that.
It was very stressful because we wouldn’t sleep well but, my brothers friend had an extra room that he said we could rent. His father was nicknamed, “El tequila” and he gave us the okay to live there. My mom had no other choice and we stayed for a couple of months.
El tequila and his wife weren’t bad people but they had set boundaries to my mother. My older brothers would have to open the window for my mom to get into and out of our room. She said,
“Ya ves el tequila no me dio llave de la casa, no quería que yo saliera, y me tenia que brincar por la ventana para poder salir.” [Translation: You see El tequila did not give me the key to the house, and he did not want me to leave, and I had to jump out the window to get out and enter ]
He had a curfew for her as well, she told me, “El tequila, me decía que lo más tarde que yo podría llegar a la casa era a las diez de la noche. No más tarde porque no me iban a abrir la puerta.” [Translation: El tequila, told me that the latest that I could get to the house was at ten o’clock, no later because they were not going to open the door for me.]
The living conditions got very bad there. They would steal money from my mom, money that she didn’t have and they overdrafted her account on many occasions, and they would even hit me and my siblings.
But she got fed up after a while and made a radical choice to move for the better of her family, “Ya ves que tambien les pegaba, y por eso ya me sali de ahi” [Translation: You see that he also beat you, and that's why I got out of there.]
We finally moved from there and got a garage with the help of my mothers new boyfriend Rigoberto. We were solid there; we had a good time and they are times I wish I could go back to. Staying there was one of the best decisions to ever happen in my life.
My mom would not get sleep when we were moving from house to house and here she was getting the rest she desperately needed.
Due to unfortunate events, we moved into the Foxdale Apartments with my eldest brother Joe; we lived in a three bedroom apartment and life was getting pretty good.
It was all sunshine and rainbows and we as a family were getting very close. Slowly my brothers wife started hiding food from us and my brother soon did the same.
One specific memory I have with that is asking my brother for a piece of his leftover pizza and he said, “no get your own.” I was mortified because he was my older brother and up to that point my father figure.
This kind of treatment would continue as the months went on and it would go right under our noses. His wife would hide the laundry detergent and dish soap, the cereal and little snacks she bought for his daughters.
There was a big fight, physical and verbal and my brother ended up kicking us out. We had no where to stay and we would sleep outside of my moms job at Target in her van. She would use her breaks to check on us and make sure we were okay. My mom said, “cuando nos salimos del garaje que pasó con Alfredo(joe) que nos corrieron”
We stayed in that car for a couple months before getting an apartment with my step dad here in East Side San Jose.
I've grown up a lot since then and the life that my mother has given me is something that I cherish and are very grateful for. Now, we strive to live better and always remember the places we’ve come from.
My mother is my biggest inspiration, she never thought about giving up any of her kids, she’s undergone inhumane things, and is still here today, and even stronger. She has taught me so much in these past 17 years and I still have a lot to learn.
I asked her what’s something she hopes I’ve learned and retained from her being my mom and raising me, she said, “lo que yo quería que usted aprenda de mi es ser fuerte que nada te turbe, y responsable, que quando se caiga, se tiene que parar..”
[Translation: What I wanted you to learn from me is to be strong so that nothing will knock you down, and responsible, that when you fall, you have to get back up.
My mom has made such an immense impact on my life, it all revolves around her and making her life easier. I’ve become such a resilient individual because of her and I hope that her legacy will remain throughout my family forever.