My Mom always shared a funny story. One she told us whenever Tia or Tio's name came up.  Tio Beto was super smitten with Tia Rina.. totally in-love! He used to send his youngest sister (Mami) to take walks that coincidentally always took her by the Noya house. She had to report back whether Rina was home :)

Finca La Toma, Camagüey, Cuba. 1962. Under Fidel Castro's  dictatorship. After we lost our freedom, we still had a small row boat

A recurring theme when people talk about mom is her smile.   Mom smiled and often did so even through her pain,  because that is what she wanted to leave you with, her smile.  Mom would smile at total strangers, which would get her a ribbing from Tia Nena.

We would get on the bus to go shopping to A&S, and no sooner did mom step foot on the bus she'd start smiling at everyone.  This would invite conversation, from others; conversation in English that mom did not understand.  So, she would sit there , smiling and nodding her head and saying one of the very few words she knew how to say in English. "Yes"...smile..."yes" ...grin.."yes"...

We would get off the bus and Tia Nena would tease her  "wipe that idiot grin off your face, for all you know they could have been cursing you out and you're smiling at them".

We would all get a kick out of the sisterly banter and laugh about it.  Someone else might have become inhibited afterward, but not mom.  None of it stopped her from smiling on the bus trip back home.