Mamatona a Memorable Person

          My grandma was a person who grew up on the farm.  All her life she had to work.  I remember when she sat down with me and tell me how her childhood was in the farm. Her mom, sister, and she were to wake up early every day in the mornings to cook breakfast and lunch for her father and her seven brothers who had to go to work in the corn plantation and other farm’s activities when she was just seven years-old.  4:00 a.m. it was the regular time that they had to wake-up because they used wood or charcoal for cooking. During the rest of the day, she and her sister had to clean the house, go to the river and wash the clothes of all the members of her family, fed the hens and a family cow.  Her childhood was like a cycle because nothing changed every day except when her father and brothers had to work more in the corn plantation.  According to my grandma, those days turned for her into an adventure and a chance to discover new things to do outdoors because she and her sister had to deliver the breakfast and lunch far away from the house.  My grandma said, when I go with my sister to deliver the lunch or the breakfast, my sister body shock because her sister knew that she likes to do something not common and fun.

“I remember,” said my grandma, “one day when my pa told my sister, after you and your sister deliver the lunch for us, bring back the cows and put them into the coral because we have to much work to do in the corn plantation and we do not know what time we will be back home.   I was so tired, my grandma said to her sister, and I did not want to walk back home.” When she finished that sentence, her sister said asked her what she was doing with the cow.  My grandma was already on the top of the cow, taking a ride! “Antonia gets off the cow,” my grandma’s sister said several times, but she did not do it until she was in her house.  Another story was they went back to the house and my grandma saw a snake that went directly at her nest.  She waited until the snake was in the nest and she looked for a big rock and put it on the top of the snake’s nest.  She laughed al lot because she hears the snake’s rattle. During her narration, I paid attention to her words and actions because she always made motions put on actions with her hands, her tone of voice, and her body language.   I enjoyed her childhood’s stories, and I laughed as much I could.  Her adventures let me know that she did not have time to play like a kid.  When I asked, “mamatona” when do you play?  She answered, “Farmers kids’ life do not have time for play,” and she was quiet after her answer. 

          After she got married, she kept going work.  She decided to move on into the city because she did not like the farm’s life.  The city was different for her but not impossible to conquer it.  She had eleven kids, and the income from my grandpa was not enough, so she worked at home washing clothes for others and making and selling tortillas.  Her knowledge did not have limits.  She saw that the neighborhood needed a store with a different type of item and products, so she started a small business a mini-supermarket that was so good for the neighborhood.  She talked to her father about her idea and he helped with vegetables and other products like candles, soap for laundry, and different types of beans. For the others products, she made a credit contract for two months.  Everything came in a good way she had a lot clines and the mini-supermarket produced more that she thought but my grandpa started to spend money on liquor and women and the mini-supermarket was gone.  Then she retuned to washing clothes and making tortillas, and her children were never hungry. She always had money to buy food for them.  I admire my grandma’s loyalty toward my grandpa no matter how he was with her.

          On the other hand, my grandma had al lot friends.  Wherever she went, she made friends.  She had a friendly smile, she never raised her voice, and she helped anyone.  I remember one day when she and I went to the plaza for vegetable, fruit, and beef for the lunch that day.  When she and I went back to our house in the ally, we saw a robber taking the money from a woman.  That action disappointed my grandma, and my grandma took a pineapple and said to him, give the money back to her or you see more closely this pineapple in your face.  The robber tried to scare my grandma with a knife and some bad words, but she did not scare until his knife and words, and said again give back the money to the woman, and looked straight at the robber’s eyes. He put the knife down and he gave back the money to the woman. The woman and I only moved ours eyes like tennis balls when one of them talked, but my body was shacking and my stomach heart and had an incontrollable roar when I saw the robber take his knife and pointed at my grandma.  After the robber left, I ran to hug my grandma and the woman said thank you too.

          Illness was another adventure for my grandma and a new battle.  Many of the doctors who saw her said how lovely she was.  I never saw my grandma sad for her illness; she always had a smile in her face.  When the doctor said that her kidneys were not working, and she needed to reduce her amount of drinks, eat special food, and not consume sugar and salt, she said, “I do not diet tomorrow; I only change my style of life.”  She lived around of five years with a dialysis system.  I remember the last year she went back and forth to the hospital for diverse causes, but one-day she never came back home because she died –July 4, 1995.   
In short, she was an extraordinary woman, strong mom, and a wonderful grandma.  She was my hero, and I do not think she died; she has only gone to the new life. Soon I will go to see her again according to God’s words.