Channeling Mí Mamá

Time passes, children grow, and grandchildren come into one's life. I've often thought of myself as a hybridized Latina-American woman. So when I notice something new in my interactions with my family, I usually find it's due to the influence of one of my parents. I've calmed down a bit and I attribute that good change to my Father. I used to get upset easily and that was more like my Mother. Lately, I find myself wanting to care more for my Granddaughter, Amber. Times are so different for her and her education that I want to be sure she gets to finish and reap the rewards of having a quick inquisitive mind. Like many members of the family she has a very kind heart and is generous to a fault. However, Amber is a big girl and she's independent, so any good I might wish to do for her has to come in a way that she understands that it is my job as a grandmother to give her anything I can. This gesture on my part comes directly from my Mother, who loved unconditionally and generously. Some may wonder that I write about something so obvious--the inheritance of characteristics of one's parents. However, my relationships with each of my parents were not traditional. It's not that I was a poor misunderstood person. In some ways I was but not to the degree that led to my ever failing to love and respect my parents. It's that I live in an USAmerican world but my psyche drifts into Latina Americana frame of thinking and feeling. Every time it happens, I am pleasantly surprised. I seem to have balanced both ways of thinking and being. That is a joyful thing for me.