Using Los Angeles Negros’ music as inspiration, my dad asked my mom out back in the fall of ‘79. After a couple of years of dating, they got married in ‘82. They had me in ‘83 and then my sister in ‘87. They had their ups and lows. They battled depression on my mother’s side and alcoholism on my father’s side. But in the end, their love for each other managed to get the family through tough times.
In 1995, they were faced with one of the biggest decisions in their lives: to stay in the U.S. after our visas expired in order to save my sister’s life or go back to Mexico’s best hospital in Guadalajara, where they’d told my parents my sister was going to die. Like any responsible parent, they chose the former. They’d be damned if a border was going to stop them from saving their child’s life.
My parent’s marriage is far from perfect. But this Valentine’s, I want to celebrate the love they have for each other and the love and support they give me and my sister every single day. Even if it’s over the phone now that I live six hours away from them.