But I did want to post the last few pics of my Heritage Album before too much more time went by. So here goes:
This pic is some sort of family gathering. Not sure who most of the people are. But I do recognize my mom and her two sisters. The bottom picture shows the happy group dressed in fun "cowboy" attire, like they were going to a big square dance or something. Wish I could ask my mom or aunts. When I get to heaven, I will!
This next top picture is of my mom, my aunt Toya, and the little guy could possibly be my uncle Manny. Again, I won't know till I get to heaven--cuz that's where they all are now. The bottom pic is just one with mom a little older and some people I don't recognize. Mom's handwriting says School Memories, December 1950, so she was 15 years old in this pic. Sadly, most of her pics do NOT have dates or names of those in the pics. So lesson learned: label current pics with names and dates!
Here's my dad and mom. They were married on January 21, 1962. I was born 10 months later; my brother, 18 months after that. Not much of a honeymoon period for them. Perhaps that short time "pre-kids" contributed to the marriage not lasting beyond 3 years. I think there was a lot more to it. There always are 2 sides to the stories. I have only known one side, my mom's, my whole life. And she did a pretty good job raising my brother and me all by herself, so I am okay with that one side for now. But I'm pretty sure they did love each other at one point, so there you go.
These pictures are of my uncle Antonio and his wife Vicky and their girls, Adriana and Liliana. The bottom pic is of my aunts Anabel and Toya.
This last set of pics is of our early years here in America, after mom left my dad and most of her family. The top picture includes my uncle Jose, who was the closest I ever had to a "father" in my life. He died just 3 years ago and I miss him greatly. I do remember very happy memories growing up in Brooklyn. Though looking back on those years, I often wonder how mom did it without complaining or crying or feeling sorry for herself. She was a remarkably strong woman, who put Carlos and me first in everything, and made huge sacrifices to bring us here, to America, to give us a good life. Because of her lack of fluency in English, she usually always held low paying jobs, but she got us through college. The Lord really dealt both Carlos and I a huge measure of grace and blessings. We are successful today because mom was tenacious in helping us get through school, and because the Lord blessed us with resources to do so. Except for my brother Carlos and two people in the 3rd pic, all have gone on to heaven. Someday, I will be giving a bunch of hugs to these dearly parted ones, especially my Mami, whom I think about every single day and miss greatly!
I have a bunch more scrapping to do for Carlos' album, and that will hopefully happen over the next few months, in time for Christmas gift for him. I will keep you posted on that as the time approaches.
Now it is time to hit the Craft Studio and do some "shining" through my crafting!
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