Texas? Never Heard of It...

"Separating us like this sounds painful." I bet those were the exact words running through her head when she heard the news. When she watched her husband leave their family behind, leaving the only home they knew behind to give the family a head start in a new land. She must have been heartbroken. But she sat there and did nothing but grin and bear it.

All she had ever known was her homeland, Puerto Rico, a land rich and hearty and free. All she knew was her small family, caring but strict, and always there. So to suddenly hear the news that she was to leave everything behind to move to the United States, to move to Texas, was a big shock. She did not know anything about this "Texas". She never had found the need to learn. She hadn’t even known how to speak English yet, a crucial skill that would practically be required if she wanted to live comfortably in the United States. I bet she was scared, but she just sat there and did nothing but grin and bear it.

My mother is strong. She's independent and smart. She must have known that, realistically, moving to the United States would give our family great opportunities, and for that she was brave.

"Texas is certainly different from Puerto Rico," she would go on to tell me. I understand that now, at 18, once I bothered to ask her about this experience of hers. The idea that moving to a new place could be scary hadn’t yet crossed my mind back when I was seven. It was my first time coming to the mainland United States as well, but my experience isn't nearly as memorable as hers.

My mother told me about her fears. She feared she wouldn't be able to find a job to support us with. She feared she wouldn't make any new friends. She feared being alone. Even the one-year wait when we let our dad head to the United States before us was a little jarring as she remembered that it only solidified the entire ordeal, reminding her that this is really happening.

But she got over those fears. She taught herself English and studied tirelessly to teach me and my brother the basics as well, since she knew that learning the language would be important. She decided that she didn’t need to try hard for friends, and that if she had her family, she would never be alone. She supported my brother and me during our one year without our father, making the time feel as though it were flying right by.

Once she made it to Texas, and off "that death-trap of a plane," she realized that her fears were for naught.

She remembers marveling at the buildings and scenery, how the air itself seemed brighter, and how the people smiled at you as you passed them by. The sun was warm, and once we all met up as a family in our new home, she remembers feeling even warmer.

The shift wasn’t instinctive, but as time passed by the idea of this "Texas" started to not seem so bad. My mother said that as long as we were all together, she could make it. And she did. As time moved on she started missing Puerto Rico less and less, the homesickness did not feel so bad anymore. And as my brother and I grew up here, she realized that our family made the right choice in moving.

She described Texas as a place that gave her hope, and a place that gave her family opportunity. She still thinks of it in this way. She supports the family with a job to help out our dad. She talks to her friends all the time and had even attended a camping trip recently with them all by herself. She no longer feels alone or scared.

She is thankful.

Posted March 22, 2018

Join 6 others and favorite this

TAGGED WITH: St. Mary's University, stmarytx.edu