Time Came and Went…
“I was a very young mother, but I enjoyed being a mother. I absolutely loved having those kids and seeing them play, grow and learn. I have so many memories of when they were little and what makes me the proudest is who each of them has become. I am so proud of who they are and what they have accomplished; I am so very proud of my 3 kids. But often I wonder if I had played with them enough, if I read to them enough, if they knew how much I loved them, if I did enough or maybe even too much? I know this is a question every mother asks themselves, but still I wonder.
Around this time I was still singing with ‘Los Cumbancheros’ and Henry Fernando and I were going to little towns upon request and teaching them about Bolivia. Fernando would play the piano and Henry and I would dance the cueca and I would sing sometimes. Everyone seemed to be so interested in Bolivia, which to me seemed kind of surprising that most people didn’t even know what or where Bolivia was. But anyway, this is kind of a good memory, one time they invited me to come and speak in Pesotum IL.
I believe it was the daughters of the revolution or something like that. They picked me up and the youngest was about 70 years old. After they invited me another time to go to speak to the past presidents of the club and I thought, this time I would drive. If the youngest of the current members were in their 70’s I thought how old would the past presidents be. So I thought I would drive myself, and when I arrived there were about 20 ladies who were so nice. They were very welcoming and asked me questions as we chatted and all of a sudden one little lady with a bun who looked so cute went to the piano and all of them stood up, so I did too. They are all looking at me and smiling and she’s playing and I am smiling and we are all kind of looking at each other and finally someone says “isn’t it wonderful that she learned how to play the Bolivian national anthem?”. I thought ‘OH, is THAT what that was?’ It was not quite the same as I did not recognize it but I was so thankful that this sweet little lady had learned to play it just for me. Then they came around with these shot glasses that were apparently filled with wine. Everyone got one so I did too. I took a sip and it tasted like cough syrup. Soon the tray came back around and I realized everyone had finished it in one little shot and I had only sipped it. It was just so ridiculously sweet. I don’t think I will ever forget that day, they were so smiley and nice, and it was a very interesting and nice day.
So anyway, time came and went, and Carmen was growing so fast. She was very different in temperament than her brother and sister. Ralph was a very quiet little boy, his grandson Christian reminds me of him. Very caring and curious and knows a lot about certain subjects. Ralph was always like that. Teresa was very active in some ways and articulate and always talking. Carmen, oh my Carmen had a temper. She would throw tantrums and hold her breath. It scared me so much one time I took her to the doctor and the doctor said, “oh no she's just being mean, she’s not going to die, she’s fine.”
I remember another time she was crying and I was warming up her milk because I couldn’t breastfeed with her either. I was getting her bottle and Ralph and Teresa were so worried. Ralph kept saying “the baby is crying mom” and all of a sudden Carmen is quiet. I looked over and they had given her bologna. There she is just happy looking at this bologna. I had to be very on top of what they were always doing with the baby, but anyway. The kids when they were little loved to sing for me and put on shows and sing. They were really growing up fast. That's it for now.”
