As she runs through the small ragged streets of Puerto Rico, her hot steaming sun is beaming on her face. They are carrying these huge buckets on their heads. Ana Garcia lives in a small poor town in Puerto with the biggest dreams to chase in Chicago. She is determined to make a legacy for herself and experience the American dream she has always wanted. As she grew up, she grew her roots and family though Chicago. She didn’t just impact her children, but her grandchildren as well, Gabriella Garica. That’s me, Gabi Garica. Her roots keep all of us going, they keep growing, shining and impacting. She never stopped pushing herself and spreading her love through her exotic Puerto Rican roots.
The cold air hits her face, not like she’s used to. Back home it’s always muggy, sticky hot; over here it’s the complete opposite. It’s a cold and windy fall time, it’s all new to her. She quickly notices Puerto Rico is a “slump with mud and houses are built with sticks.” compared to her new city with brick houses, walls, cars, and running water. As she looks out her window of her new home, she sees the brown orange leaves all over Humboldt Park. The houses, the people, the language are all foreign to her. She’s confused about this new world. But soon she will understand everything. Everything happens for a reason.
As she got older, she slowly started getting into the grove of things. Highschool was a very quick year for her. She didn’t have a lot of money growing up so her parents made all the kids quit school and start working. “But the first year of high school, as soon as I could get a job which was like 15 years old or 16 you could get a job, I quit school and went to work to help my parents.” Ana said with regret in her voice, you spell the old strong grandma perfume. The perfume you smell from a mile away; that never really goes away, it’s just always there. Her parents didn’t understand English at first. Ana exclaims, “They couldn’t help us, with school projects or the language, they didn’t have an education.” She didn’t have the high school experience she dreamed of.
As winter was coming, Ana started to work full time. “So I just quit and I went to work. My first job was working in a restaurant. I will keep half of the paycheck and the other half I will give to my mom.” Deep down she wanted to make friends, hangout with people, go shopping, do what normal teenage girls do. But, there’s just some sacrifices you have to make. Winter is her favorite time of year. Although she isn’t getting everything she wished for, she still has her favorite part of Christmas: Her moms Christmas dinner! “That was one of the best times, because she always makes Christmas dinner with roasted pork with arroz con Gandules.” 88
As Christmas came for most children that meant candy, presents, snow, cookies, and most of all Santa Clause. But for Ana and her family, that meant more money they needed for
winter clothes, stops at Goodwill, and presents they weren’t going to get. “Yeah, and we didn’t have any money back then, so the teacher would buy my cookies and milk for me. I also remember we would be so cold in the winter and we didn’t have any coats. People at school would see us in line in school without sweaters and would donate coats to us so we won’t be so cold out
there.”
At times, she thinks back about the old days and how life was like in Puerto Rico. Sometimes at night she dreams about what her life would have been like if she still lived there. She could have had a completely different life; here she made her own legacy, her own happiness. “I wouldn’t want to go back out into Puerto Rico, it gives me sad memories. All I feel are the sad frustrating times. Everywhere I look it’s poor and I just remember how far I’ve come. Sometimes I think “Why did I get so lucky to come to the U.S., and others don’t.” Ana says, wondering.
Her days could have looked so different. Here she gets to spend the rest of her life with her husband, Alfredo Garcia. “If I didn’t come here, I wouldn’t have met the love of my life.” I would never experience teenage love, and who knows if I was happy or fulfilled in Puerto Rico,” Ana notes. In life you have to take risks. It’s the scariest part of living. “ Life has so much to offer you, so don’t worry about how far you fall when you take that jump, that’s the exciting part!”Ana added.
Now, Ana is a grandmother with four beautiful grandchildren, she came so far compared with what she began with. She has a beautiful home with a huge loving loud Puerto Rican family. All the things she gave up when she was a child were 100% worth it. Ana says with tears in her eyes “At the end of the day, I’m so happy with how far me and my family have come. All the sacrifices paid off, now I live in a beautiful home with my husband. I’m so grateful to have my two kids, and my amazing grandchildren, always keeping me busy.” Now as she looks out her window she feels the windy leaves flow through the streets. The smell of fall is her favorite time of year. Just like when she was a little girl.
