Family Kin

      My interviewee is non other than my own mother. She is the Ego in my chart and luckily she is still here with me. Her name is Maria and she was born and raised in El Salvador until the age of 19 when she along with many of her siblings migrated here to Los Angeles, California where she's been living ever since. They migrated here in the early 1980's during the civil war that took place in El Salvador. She was conceived by her mother Emma and father Jose. She is a sister to 5 other siblings, including 3 brothers and 2 sisters(Mario, Socorro, Luis, Miguel, and Rosy). She is the second youngest of all 6.

      My mom was the quietest of the 6 siblings and was typically helping her mother when she wasn't helping or playing with her older sister Socorro. That was her closest member of the family and the person she would socialize with most. On the other hand; the one least socialized with was the youngest of the family, her younger sister Rosy. She was the more active of them all and the one that got into the most trouble. Overall they were and are still to this day very close. My mom says that although they did not have much to give during the holidays, they were very close and humble with one another. My mom recalls everyone having the most love towards their mom (Emma). She was the nicest lady any of them have ever known to this day. My mom cant recall one event where her mom raised her voice to any of them. She was very calm and passive and everyone in the town knew who she was and admired her for her kindness. Although Socorro is the person my mom socialized with most, her mom is the person she trusted and confided in most. That is why is hurt her most when her mother past away 15 years ago. She described her mothers passing hurting more than any other pain she's ever been through, including child birth. (We had to stop our interview for a while during this subject). She still has her father who she cares dearly for but is nowhere compared to the relationship she had with her mom. Her aunt; sister of her father, is still alive as well. She is also very calm and patient which is not the same description as my moms father. My mom describes him as hardworking and caring towards his family but never showed his love towards any of them. Now that he is the only one living in El Salvador he sees how important family is to him. My mom went late last year and said the day she was leaving his house to go to the airport was only the second time in her life other than her mothers passing, that she seen tears in his eyes. 

      To this day, my mom, her bothers, and sisters are still close. They still unite with one another for the holidays and family birthdays. There was a few years where one of her brothers (Miguel) was involved with narcotics and was nowhere to be seen. He was the missing piece to the family for about 7 years. My mom and her sister Socorro were able to get in contact with him early last year and were able to help him and he is doing much better now. Her family is very open with one another. Her brother Miguel has a hard time opening up but my mom says that as long as he continues to stay healthy, no one really cares because they know hes been through a lot. They all still live here in the Los Angeles area. The only member to have moved out of the area and out of state is Socorro's son Pablo who now lives in Atlanta, Georgia. By all of them living within a 45 minute drive continues to help unite them even more.