Happy Birthday in Heaven, Mom! I think about you and Abuela every day. I wonder what you would think about all that “las niñas” have accomplished in their lives and whether you’d be proud. I think you would be, and I wish you could have met all your beautiful grandchildren and great-grandbabies. God took you way too soon. I named the family matriarch in THE FAMILY SHE NEVER MET after my mom because she has the same indomitable spirit that my mother possessed. My mom was an amazing woman who got us out of Cuba after Castro and communism stole her country. She made a life for us here, and before feminism was even a thing, she made sure to teach her girls that they could accomplish whatever they wanted with determination and hard work. I remember a high school friend telling me once that our family was different, and I thought it was because we spoke Spanish at home and ate different foods. She told me that it wasn’t because of that. It was because my mom told us that we were going to college, and she’d never heard that before in her world. It gave her the determination to go to college like we were doing. Thank you for instilling those beliefs, Mom. They have served me well over the course of my life. I miss you and hope you are happy up in heaven.
