Category: ThrowbackThursday

My grandfather was a saint. Patient, loving, kind, and hard-working. He was always supportive of my grandmother and mother, two very determined women. Plus, he would do anything he had to do help his family. In my February 2022 release The Family She Never Met there’s a scene where the heroine is speaking to her father about how to feed her family and keep a roof over their heads. During that scene you find out that her father had lied about his age in order to get a job to help the family.

That’s just one of my family’s true stories woven into the fictional tale in The Family She Never Met. My grandfather shaved a decade off his age so he could get a job and help out our family. My granddad was already retirement age when we came here, but he instead worked at one of the maintenance services at LaGuardia Airport. One of my childhood memories is of driving with my mom or dad to pick him up at work.

This picture is from an ID card for a medical clinic in Cuba.

As part of our downsizing, I scanned a lot of our family photos to save space in our new smaller home. I scanned this elementary school photo of me. I’m guessing I was about 11 or 12 maybe? We had moved to Levittown that summer and I started the fourth grade that year at Gardiners Avenue Elementary. It was a nice time, although I definitely felt like a fish out of water at first.

Since one of the storylines in South Beach Love is about two rival teens and their upcoming quinceañera parties, I decided to share a picture with you from my daughter’s quinces! It was such a fun time celebrating such a big moment in her life with all our family and friends. It was also important to keep that tradition alive and sharing it with others was a very special moment.

If you want to read more about quinces, you can visit https://people.howstuffworks.com/culture-traditions/cultural-traditions/10-fun-quinceanera-traditions.htm.

We used to visit South Beach for spring vacations when my daughter was younger. We loved the vibe of the area and the Art Deco hotels. It was also an opportunity to spend some time in Little Havana and give my daughter a taste of Cuban foods, music, and more. This is a photo of my daughter and me in South Beach many years ago. She’s my mini-me! Also, don’t forget the South Beach Love giveaway ends tomorrow night!

While downsizing, I came across a photo of my third-grade class at P.S. 219 in Queens, NY. It was a happy trip back to those times since I’ve always loved school. It was also my last class in Queens since we moved to Levittown, Long Island where I started in the fourth grade.

I remember that dress well. It was one of my favorites because it made me look like a little flower. LOL!

That’s today’s Throwback Thursday! Don’t forget that my South Beach Love giveaway is still running at https://www.facebook.com/Caridad.Author/posts/10158065308960913.

My hubby and I had an anniversary the other day and I thought I’d share this photo of the first big meeting of the parents once hubby and I realized that our relationship was going somewhere more permanent! Hubby and I are in the bottom left corner. From left to right are hubby’s dad, my dad, hubby’s mom, and my mom!

P.S. – Please drop by my Author Time chat on Thursday at 6 pm with the Belmar Public Library. You can join the Zoom session at https://zoom.us/j/91452521083 or watch the live stream at https://www.facebook.com/BELMARPUBLICLIBRARY/.