“I met my husband online. We were friends through a social network. When we started talking on the phone, we had this connection. We didn’t struggle for words. It felt natural. “This went on for about three months. Then I was...
“I had a fascination with Egypt, so I took a course in Egyptology. I learned to read hieroglyphs. Then I had a fascination with bagpipes, so I took lessons and learned to play them. I marched in nearly every parade in...
“My grandmother only made it up to seventh grade. All the other women before her on her side didn’t get further than that, either. So she wanted something better for me. She made sure I understood the importance of a good...
“My grandmother was very protective of me. I was never really let out of the house unless I found a way out. Those times that I did, one of the guys I dated before my husband was heavily gang involved. I...
“When I was 20 years old, I learned that my mom wasn’t really my mom, my dad wasn’t really my dad, and my siblings weren’t really my siblings. “My mother got pregnant with me at a very young age. They sent...
“I went to school only five years in Mexico. So all of my life, I am only a worker. All of my life, I do physical work. I don’t have an option. We’re looking for money. Everyone is looking for money....
“I’m 49, and I’m the youngest of 11 siblings. There were four things that my mother and father stressed to all of us. One, get an education because nobody can take that from you. Two, never fail in your faith. Three,...
“I grew up hearing my dad tell stories about his horseback riding and gunslinging. As a young kid, I always thought they were just tall tales. But they weren’t. “He was an orphan. By the time he was 9 years old,...
“My mother is probably the strongest woman I know. I mean, she raised 11 children. So I knew something was going on when she or the neighbor would call me at work sometimes several times a day because she had locked...
“My daughter is in fourth grade. My son is in sixth grade. And I’m that dad who gives them a message in the morning before they go off to school. The main thing that I kind of beat into their heads...
