Mami

This is Norma Leticia Aldape. She is my mom. This lady, whom I love dearly, is something else. As any mother, she is loving, caring, kind, compassionate, motherly (duh), patient, optimistic, creative, loyal, responsible, trustworthy, etc. However, my mom possess other characteristics that I don't believe many mothers possess. For time's sake, I have decided to sum these characteristics into three: accountant, fighter and child. Accountant, she is great at managing money. My dad does not make much money, definitely not enough to maintain an eight person family but never have we had to ask relatives to help us pay a bill or ask for money. Mami makes it happen. She is a fighter in the sense that she is very involved in getting simple benefits to our community such as proper drainage, public lighting and health services. She is constantly attending meetings and talking to political leaders to obtain benefits for, not only our neighborhood but, neighborhoods in The Valley. Child, sometimes I see her as a child. Her childhood was not the best. She overcame many obstacles.Because of that sometimes I see her as my sister in the sense that she acts silly, makes cheesy jokes, jams out to the latest hits (more so than I) and can be childishly annoying to us. That is a side of my mom that not many people get to see. Despite it being obnoxious at times and feeling like I have to look out for her I let her have fun because I know that she probably missed out on that as a kid. I am definitely going to miss her when I leave even though I, jokingly, tell her I won't. Te amo, Mami. Gracias por todos los sacrificios que has hecho por mi. Te voy a extrañar.