I spiral into a circle of mommy guilt guilt over being the selfish and self absorbed during your formative years guilt over giving my attention to futile and idiotic love stories when I should have been focusing on you guilt that maybe if I had been more patient, more nurturing, you wouldnβt be filled with so much uncertainty about your future
whoever is worthy and good for me will have to be more than worthy, more than good enough for my boys above everything else theyβll have to understand and respect the relationship I have with my sons
there are days I donβt feel strong enough to be their mom maybe itβs insecurity that weighs heavily on me after every fight, after every conflict it was easier when they were small and I was their favorite person the one they ran to the moment I opened the door nowadays I work much and they have their own interests to have much to do with me nowadays they bring up grievances of everything Iβve done and am doing wrong is this karma for being a bad daughter to my mom is this karma for being selfish and self absorbed for a few years of their lives Who knows- maybe itβs not about being strong, being right, or being respected maybe itβs about them knowing they are loved
My son is blossoming and becoming the man I always knew he could be Heβs ambitious, heβs kind,heβs a hard worker Heβs a motherβs dream come true And while at times he may still stumble and occasionally Heβs inherited strength and resilience from me It keeps him from giving up It keeps him moving towards a life full of success and happiness
some storms are worth the rainbows that come after them like the first steps taken after an invasive and life changing surgery like the victory dinner after the termination of a marriage that never should have happened like the first drive alone after beating a 15 year driving phobia like the child graduating at the top 10 percent of his class even though the odds were stacked against him like the rainbow child born after enduring the nightmare of losing one like still being here and writing a poem about storms and rainbows even though many times youβve been tempted by thanatos whispers to end it some storms are worth the rainbows that come after them because rainbows are hope, magic, and joy that make a life worth living
she had no choice but to sell her body to provide for her family without an education, she had to use her beauty as currency it was her only way out of the curse of poverty she was born in, out the adobe house she grew up in so she put on her loudest and reddest lipstick slid on her garter belt and fishnet stockings over her slender thighs along with the most revealing and tightest dress she could find and stood at the corner with a plastered smile on her face, poised like a doll for the taking the only english she knew was βme love you long timeβ
4 decades later her sons would make amends and forgive her even if a couple of them didnβt know who their fathers were even though this started a generational curse carried on unintentionally she just wanted to know what it was like to not struggle to have enough food in her belly to be able to wear more than two outfits in a year it was her pipe dream she wanted to make into reality
a moment of serendipity happened when we ran into each other Christmas shopping You struck up a conversation and helped me with my bags and I told you about my plans for higher education and you said you wanted to help me and got my phone number we didnβt know at the time, one day weβd form a family get married and divorced within a span of twenty years isnβt life, so, so crazy? How ten minutes of conversation ended up leading to the beginning of one of my most important stories?
I tell my son Iβm proud of you and heβs like why, because Iβm alive I nervously laugh even though my heart aches over what he said Why does America like to play Russian roulette with its children Why canβt I have a normal conversation with my kid over too much screen time and reminding him to brush his teeth instead of conversation over what he should do in a mass shooting
I try my best to try to trust the divine time of the universe but on days like today I just want to disappear under the covers of my bed itβs not that Iβm depressed I just need time to myself and not be surrounded by everyoneβs bullshit about capitalism, societyβs ills, and how we all need to heal- it all feels so repetitive like weβre all barely treading water waking up with existential dread wondering which catastrophe or tragedy comes next itβs hard for someone as sensitive as me to keep functioning to keep living under stress and duress of life and the worldβs toxicity so on days like today I just want to disappear under the covers of my bed
to see my american dream I just need to step into my backyard and look at my holy trinity who call me mom theyβre the ones I try to better myself for theyβre the one who make my immigrant existence worth living for theyβre my american dream wrapped up in burps, dark humor and love