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My mother always told me, family is always family. She held the importance of family at a high standard, but it never amounted to what it seemed.
2010 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, my mother was a struggling single parent raising three girls, but of course she had her sister. We lived with our aunt and her husband. It was generous of them, even if they did have affluence. It’s a difficult, often intimidating responsibility to take care of another family. My uncle was a sensible man, he was extremely kind and rarely tended to be rude. Although my mother and aunt never got along well, my aunt provided me and my sisters with unconditional love. I undeniably knew, family is family.
November came, my aunt's house was cozy and quaint at that time. My mother was at work and my aunt was babysitting my sister and I. My aunt and uncle began to argue and the house turned into an arena where gladiators fought to the death, or in this case who would kick who out of the house. Eventually my aunt took us to my mom’s work and from there we stayed at this rundown building; Numerous old, lonely, dirty strangers were “residents” of this building too. After that my mom and aunt cut off contact completely, my grandmother had told my mother that my uncle didn’t like her, because she was too “Mexican”, too “submissive”, too “dark”. My mother always found a joke in everything:
“¿Sabes que? That explains why your uncle only likes white chocolate.”
A couple years passed before my mother apologized and we got to meet our cousin for the first time. I guess, family is family.
2016, summertime, life seemed comfortable. My mother and stepfather were out of town. My sister and I were staying at our house with a family friend. Even so, my aunt decided to pick up my sister and I from our house, because God forbid we stay with “some stranger” than be with my aunt and her calm, collected, candid husband. My aunt and uncle were not in a good position in their marriage, then again how easy can it be, being married to a perfect man, a family man, who always made sure to
Family is Family, Right?
by Celeste Zuniga