Fan Fiction: Erica Mena & Cyn Santana: HERstory

Introduction:

When I think about where I was born it is amazing how far I have come as a woman and as a human being, period. You see, my mother was pregnant with me when she got caught up on the wrong side of the law, without realizing that she was, while trying to get some money in order to put food on the table to feed her two daughters. Her husband, my father, was the one who got her involved in things that she shouldn't have been involved in, but she did not know better at the time because all she did was deliver "packages" wherever she was told to by her husband and never asked any questions because she would get enough money to feed her family for weeks. Her husband was in and out of her life and she was a stay-at-home mom who sacrificed everything so she could take care of her children. She also did all kinds of jobs she could find just to make ends meet. She was a generous woman & was always willing to share when she could with the children of the neighborhood who were less fortunate. Her daughters never really knew what their mother was involved in, but they knew she was a hard-working woman and they wanted to emulate her. She always told them the importance of education and they both knew that they would work hard at school, and thereafter they would look for jobs in order to help their mother.

My mother went into labor while still in a woman's prison serving a five year term for being an accomplice to something she had no real understanding of. In the wee hours of the night of Sunday, November 8, 1987, I was born in the small clinic inside a correctional facility for women in New York. My mother was happy that it was another baby girl that had been born and she said that I was born with a sparkle in my eyes and she immediately knew I was special. She said I was as cute as a button, strong, did not cry much and seemed curious of my confined surroundings.

Now, you would think that with such an entrance into this world that my life would amount to nothing and I would end up in a place like my mother was or worse. I will not lie and say that I have not had my fair share of struggles & difficult periods in my life.  But far from it, I have risen above many hurdles to be where I am today.

My mother decided to name me Erica; meaning both a type of a beautiful and colorful flower that blooms during winter but also a person who is noble; an honorable ruler.

This is an anecdote; HERstory of I, Erica Mena!