Momentous Decisions

Momentous Decisions

By Adriana Solis

In Mexico, there have been a lot of economic crises. For as long as I can remember, every six years when in Mexico had change of president, the whole country waits nervously for the currency devaluation, which means the poor get poorer, there is less purchasing power, more job losses and an increase in debt for almost everyone. Those situations have existed for many years, even before I was born. The politicians have not done a good job and many people are always affected. In 1947, my grandparents were some of them. They were really poor when they met and decided get married, but one day they decided to move to Guadalajara looking for better future. This city is the second most important city in Mexico and this movement, was a big change in our whole family’s history.

When I talked with my grandma about the first years of her marriage, she always said “We were really poor, and sometimes we didn't have anything to eat”. This kind of situation made my grandparents look for a better opportunity in a new place. Both my grandparents became orphans when they were children. My grandmother got married with my grandfather when they were around seventeen years old. He was a shoemaker, and she was a housewife. Almost all relatives were poor too, but one day one of their nephews decided to move to Guadalajara, and some months later, when he got basic skills as automotive mechanics and started to work, he was able to bring the whole family with him, including my grandparents.

Once installed in Guadalajara, my grandparents started to work very hard. My grandfather learned about automotive mechanics, and my grandmother washed clothes and made tostadas, a delicious dish in Mexican cuisine. Then, my grandfather started to work with his nephew and got experience. Some months later, he was able to open his own auto repair shop. With all their work and my grandmother as a great administrator, they started another business: a grocery store in their neighborhood. The grocery store became a successful business, and both my grandfathers’ auto repair shop and the grocery run by my grandmother, could provide my grandparents and their children with a better life. Step by step, they were building a different life for themselves.

 

Many years later, I thought it would be good idea to attend college in Guadalajara, but I lived with my parents in Ocotlán, a small town near Guadalajara. This shift needed support and my parents gave me it. We were not rich but we didn´t have big economic problems. My mother was the youngest in her family, and she didn´t live the hardships that my grandparents had lived and my father worked all the time for the same company. Despite this, my grandparents were always a big support when we needed it. So, with my parents’ support and, as a usual, my grandparents’ support too, I was able to study in Guadalajara. Some years later, I graduated from college knowing that largely I owed my education, to the decisions that my grandparents had taken in the past.

In conclusion, my grandparents have always been an example and inspiration of success, and surely this will remain for future generations in my family. One day, with all their fears, they took risks and made decisions that became momentous, establishing a better foundation for all those who were born after them. All the fortune they were seeking and found are still with all my relatives and me, not only as material things but as values and examples of perseverance and commitment. I will be always thankful to them for that.