Personal Narrative: Growing Up In A Non-Traditional Family

I remember that night as if it were crystal clear. The night in which an unfortunate realization took place, a reality check if you’d rather. It was the beginning of my freshman year of high school, I was at home along with the rest of my family. My older sister was doing homework and i was surfing through the channels, bored as usual. I recalled my mom being in the laundry room, so I proceeded to go in that direction in hopes of being entertained. As I arrived at the door, I could, by the thick mexican accent, infer she was on the phone with someone who didn’t speak Spanish. As I opened that door, I could never forget my mother’s frustrated, anxious, and hesitant face. She forced the phone to my face, and asked me to translate. Since, this

We are a very Catholic Mexican traditional family. What does that imply? Well, we were raised to follow strict guidelines from our ethnicity and religion. Things like: no sex before marriage, don’t move out until wed, always serve men as a priority, etc. And a big one, my mom had never let me forget, “Allow God to give you as many kids, as He sees fit.” Basically preventing us from taking any kind of pregnancy prevention. And I followed these guidelines word for word because of the great example my parents had given me, at least until

However I could only concentrate on my mom’s anguished face. He stated my mom’s full name and confirmed an order for birth control, I ignored it knowing my mom would never. My mom then snatched the phone away and confirmed it. My mom, my hero, my saint, the only person I looked up to had, indeed, confirmed it. At that instant I felt my stomach drop. I felt myself fading away. I didn’t know what to think, what to say, how to react. I was stuck. I could hear in the distance my mom justifying herself and asking me to not tell anyone, as if I could. The walk back to my room seemed like an endless tunnel with no light at the end. I spoke no word to no one and blankly went to sleep. I realize this might all sound a bit over dramatic. But you must have known my mom to understand my feelings. Through my eyes she was the purest soul you could ever think of, who would never hurt a fly, capable of an immense tolerance, and the kind of person who always took the right turns in life. See, when you follow something word for word from a person that once preached it and discovered them commit exactly one of those sinful acts, your world tends to falls apart. Their pedestal crumbles down, and you’re lost for a while. At least that was my