Guatemalan tales!

Endless love or Endless fights?

After marrying my grandpa and later on divorcing him, my grandma decided to cross the border for a better future. She often told me the only reason i had the chance to live in the US was because of her and that I should always be grateful for it.  Within the years, I realized that the reason why Susana behaved the way she did with me was all my grandma's fault. My grandmother always told me I was never worth as much as Susana was and that I was only infecting Susana with my lack of 'class.'  As you may now notice, my grandmother was never fond of me, and there is two exact reasons why: For one, I look and act just like my mother does and my grandma always hated my mom. The second reason was that when I was born my dad's attention and love drifted from her to me. A couple of weeks after my grandma moved to the US, she found a job with a very important business man, who taught her the little English she knows.  She would visit me and my family very often and the only reason my brother and I ever got excited over her visits was because she always brought us cool toys! After working hard for eight years, my grandma decided to bring my dad and his two younger sisters to the US. As my dad describes it: "It was freedom taken away from us" because he believed moving to the US was never what he wished for. 

"Tu padre era un malcriado", my grandma used to tell me. My father was 14-years-old when he came to this country and at that time my grandma was having a relationship with a man my dad had never heard of. This angered my dad a lot, resulting in his poor behavior. He started skipping classes and hanging out with the wrong crowd. "Te buscas un trabajo o te vas de la casa!" my grandma told my dad and following the orders my father found a job at a gas station for the summer of his 17th year. " I used to wash cars, I was so good people often gave me no less than a $10 tip", this is what convinced my dad's naive mind that quitting school would be a great idea. My grandma, however, never bodered on telling my dad to go back to school. And that's how my father ended up with a crappy job he is not happy doing. 

When my dad turned twenty-six, he decided to make a trip to Guatemala. This trip would only last for a couple of weeks, this was the summer my father met my mama. "She was [and still is] gorgeous", my daddy said of my mama. He soon fell in love with her and my mom soon fell in love with him. And two years later, I was born. This, angered my grandmother who had already chosen who my father was going to marry and have children with. My grandmother could not believe my father had married and orphan! Yes my mom was an orphan, her father died two years after she was born and a month before she turned fifteen her mom abandoned her! My abuela is the main cause of my parents separation (will explain more about it later in the story). She always told my mama that my father was happier with another woman in the US and she often told my papa that my mom was happier with another man in Guatemala. This, of course, being a lie and the start of my parents endless fights.

"Callense!", I screamt as I bit my father's stomach. It was another night filled with arguments and fights. I was around 6-years-old and I remember exactly what happened that night. My father had been talking to a 'friend' that we all called "La Garza'', which consumed my mother with jealousy. She began demanding my papa with an explanation, clueless, my father responded with a "solo somos amigos", this angered my mom to the point that she started punching my father! When my dad was about to punch her back, I ran in between them and bit my dad to make them shut up. One of the worsts nights of my life, but it was just the beginning of my sleepless childhood nights. The daily arguments soon bored my dad and we saw him less and less within the years. 

**Many family members often ask me why I do not believe in marriage and why I do not trust anybody... I always answer: "I have seen a 'beautiful' relationship go down the drains within seconds, therefore, trust is a luxury I cannot afford!" None of them ever understand me and I do not expect them too, I just wish they didn't judge me for my beliefs, as you may see, I have reasons, very strong reasons, to have this opinions.