My mother and I have many conversations. I remember as a little girl she would sometimes wake me and allow me to come into the living room to watch a movie with her. There were other times, she and I would go the movies on a Saturday. We watch Planet of the Apes and Night of the Living Dead together.....

We also had many conversations, one that still haunts me is the story of her past. My mother doesn't know anybody in her family!! Her mother and father came here from Puerto Rico in the early 1930s. Somehow, the mother was left ( my grandmother), and she gave birth to my mother.

My grandmother was found pregnant, homeless, sick and alone...she was taken to a hospital where she gave birth to my mother and died in child birth. My mother spent the first 4 years of her life raised by white hispanics. At that time, white people raising a black child was unacceptable. My mother was removed from the home and placed in foster care. She met my father when she was 16 years old and at 18 years, they were married and had 6 children.

My mother often wondered about her family and I vowed that I would attempt to find them.  

WHEN I WAS NINE YEARS OLD I BECAME A MEMBER OF THE CUB SCOUTS. THE MEETING'S WERE HELD AT ST. RITA'S CHURCH IN ONE OF THE BUILDINGS ON THE CHURCH GROUNDS.MY MOTHER WOULD ALWAYS ACCOMPANY ME TO THE MEETINGS, BEING THAT IT WAS TO DARK AND SHE DID NOT WANT ME WALKING THE TWO BLOCKS TO THE CHURCH ALONE. THIS ONE PARTICULAR MEETING WAS IN DECEMBER AND WE ASKED TO BRING SOME ELMERS GLUE AND A THE TOP OF A BLEACH BOTTLE. WE WERE GOING TO MAKE CHRISTMAS TREE DECORATIONS IN THE SHAPE OF A BELL. BY APPLING ALOT OF ELMERS GLUE ON THE TOP AND AND ROLLING THE TOP WITH GLUE ON IT IN SOME SPRINKLES. MY MOTHER AND I DID NOT THINK WE HAD ENOUGH GLUE FOR THE PROJECT AND JUST KIND OF LOOKED HELPLESS AT EACH OTHER. THIS MAN  AN AIDE WHO WAS HELPING KIDS WITH THEIR PROJECTS SENSE OUR DELEMMA AND CAME OVER TO HELP. I GAVE HIM THE GLUE EXPECTING NOTHING TO COME OUT OF THE BOTTLE. HE IN TURNED SQUEEZED THE BOTTLE AND A TON OF GLUE CAME OUT. MY MOTHER AND I JUST LOOKED AT EACH OTHER IN SHOCK THAN WE STARTED TO SMILE. WE THANKED THE MAN AND MY PROJECT WAS MADE. THAT CHRISTMAS MY BELL WAS ON THE TREE. AND I WAS VERY PROUD OF IT.ONE OF THE MANY SPECIAL MOMENTS I REMEMBER SPENDING WITH MOM.