Parental Advisory: Explicit Content
Entry thirteenth of All About U,
As it was told to me by my mother, Elvira Luna. Proud to see her alive at age 70. Her mother passed away in her late nineties and I know we will all live long lives and be able to enjoy seeing grandchildren and great grandchildren being born. There is so much to learn, so much to teach. The connection amongst generations is unique. Special. I aspire to live to that 120 we are all supposed to reach. I’d like to meet as many of much of my family in the next generations as possible.
This is why I write to you, Z. So you will get this message and pass it down. I understand now even more the significance of writing it down, typing it up and storing knowledge and information for future generations. I see why tablets were written in cuneiform, in order to preserve information and knowledge for milenia.
I wonder if one day I take the time to write in cuneiform, what would I take the time to indent with a chisel to say, or would I ever want to dedicate that much time in doing so. At least having written and typed documentation helps preserve the stories and lessons better than just by word of mouth and memory from the elders. None of us gandchildren took the time to talk to my grandmother when she was alive and hear her wonderful stories she could have shared with us.
Therefore, the oldest stories that I have to tell are from the accounts told to me by my mother. The ol’ man and I have rarely seen eye to eye and I have a much more interesting conversation with a total stranger homeless in the streets, than I would with him. So there isn’t too many stories I can tell you about his life other than some he tried to share with me in my preteens, but we can get to those later. My mother is the one who has been able to talk to me and share whatever information about the past that I know of my family heritage. The way I speak in Spanish are from the vocabulary and grammar taught by her and the English school system.
From Chalatenango, El Salvador
Chalatenango, El Salvador is a small town according to my mom. The town is like living in a rural area of any country. Mother is the only one who can really say “back in the days” as they used to say back in the days when I used to have to hear it. The reason I say what I say is because some of the stories seem like no way it could have been that way. But when I was growing up, all the elders used to talk about it being similar to my mother’s account. So I do not question her stories. I accept most of what my mother told me back in the day, as facts.
She would tell me that when she was a child, she would have to travel many kilometers by foot to get to school. And her family was poor, so they did not have shoes. And she still managed to get to school on time and look good, nice and clean. She said it was important aspects of education at those times. She told me that “IF they had so much as a bit of dirt underneath their fingernails, they would be hit on the hand, and IF they did not obey they would be spanked. They were VERY strict in school in those days” she would say. The point of her stories were “you don’t know how good you have it now, back in my days….”
It seems to me that my mother was describing nuns as being the teachers of more than likely a Catholic school in a Catholic church. This had to be the education she was receiving, I believe. On the first G-Rated Stories #1 I spoke about the Spaniards invading the local tribes there and having to put up a fight. Well the indigenous people lost, as was the case in several parts of Central and South America. Same story as in Mexico and the United States. The invaders came and brought sickness and death to the locals, then made them adopt a name and a religion. This could be my point of view only, therefore this is my disclosure. Do your own research.
But that was mom, walked several miles (kilometers) to school with no shoes, made it to school on time, with her clothes clean when she was a child. This walk was over a hill and through an area where one day she crossed through. There was an area where she encountered many snakes on the ground giving her fear of the smallest snake and toy resemblance to this day. She enjoyed learning and making maps as a child, even though grandma didn’t want her walking to school. It is interesting now to think about it, that she knew more about the European countries than she said we did in school. It is where the information came from.
It seems to me by the age of ten, maybe older, maybe younger she was sent out to live with her older sister. The reason for that is because her older sister had a couple of kids and needed help. One day mother decided she was doing all the labor and babysitting, making tamales and getting almost nothing in return. She decide to leave that situation and move to the city in El Salvador. When she found a job at a plant, she ended up renting a room from my grandmother from my father’s side before they were together. In fact, to this day he still teases her about how conquered her over those older guys she was talking to before they were together. He was barely eighteen when I was born and mother was in her twenties.
All caught up on how pops met my mother. She lived in a properties with rooms for rent owned by my grandmother on pops side. I bring it up because it is interesting that we still work a model similar, renting rooms. Even though most of this skipped a generation and I have worked my best to embed the information, teach it to you. Not just hope that you will be of the same business independent mindset, but teach it to you as you learn the simple stuff. When I taught it to Tati, I was the only one breaking cycles, making a change. I carefully looked at patterns from the past and worked on changing them, tweaking them so that we can better ourselves independently. I love my grandmothers. Them being in El Salvador and I raised in the United States, not taught to find a way to communicate, did not get the chance to when they were alive. As I said, many cycles I have tried to redirect for a better connection with the past and the present.
Back to after my sickness as a baby from G-Rated Stories #2. I am not sure when dad took off to the US to get a job. I believe there was other family members that also made this migration. The plan was for him to come and settle in and then have my mother and I to come after he found a place to stay. I am not sure how long the separation occurred. To my knowledge, my grandmothers and some of my aunts insisted that she let me stay with them. That it would be a better idea for her to make that journey on her own without a baby in her arms. Once she was safe there, then they could figure out how to get me there. Mother would not agree to leave me behind. She took me with her no matter what.
I say that because It is about 3000 kilometers from there to here and it is not like the trip was considered legal at the time. So there was not an airplane to jump on and travel there the fastest. There were coyotes that would make those trips and charged hefty fees from what I understand. To this day there are several segments about immigrants coming in caravans from Central America looking for salvation in the United States. Somehow, a story from someone migrating to the United States has channeled to my mind. It is not our story because the lady in the story did not have a child. I am not sure if it is a story from the past, present or future.
When I began writing the story, I thought it was just a segment made up in my mind try to help me understand what could my mother have possibly went through trying to get here. But as I typed, I began feeling like it was not me writing the story. My hands were being controlled by an outer source desiring that I write that story. Each chapter was written from beginning to end without putting too much thought into it, just typing. Even in me trying to retell my story in a way as if I am speaking to you, Z, I still struggle in flowing as smoothly as I do when I am channeling information I need to type because it is coming from a higher source or another source other than mine. If you would like to read it, Traveling Trails is the name and that is the link to the original story. I might create it as an NFT story so that it will remain on the blockchain with the opportunity to be read in the future.
The story of my mother traveling with me is similar but I am not sure how it went. I am not sure what happened along the road. It does not seem like a pleasant trip that mother had to make on her own. According to Google the current shortest route takes about 40 hours drive and a 26 day walk. This was before Google Maps and with many obstacles to account for. She did not tell me how much of it was a ride or if there was any walking. From my recollection of what mother told me, we crossed the border 5 times before finally getting across permanently. She mentions being arrested and being in a holding tank at least once. I traveled, according to her, every single time with her. So I wonder what happened to me? How did we stay together and what pieces of the story am I missing?
We could travel to the past further if you like some other time. For now let’s keep moving forward, Z.
Two teach four teach forever more!
I am writing this series with the music “All About U” Inspired Creative Thinkers Playlist all for you Z and your Generation Alpha. This is my entry 013, written on this Wednesday the 7th of February 2024 and completed February 9, 2024.
Index and Outline of chapters to come. Thank you for being a part of a great journey.
G-Rated Stories #3 - Traveling Years
G-Rated Stories #4 - Lost Years
G-Rated Stories #5 - Age Five Alive
AlexAirLuna
