Our Tia-Mama said she was way too young to be a grandmother when her first grandchild was born, so she became Tia-Mama. In Spanish “tia” actually means “aunt”…and an aunt is a very special relative to a young child. Our Tia-Mama is very special to us and we love that she has a very special name.
Our grandmother Leonor Chavez is a professional hair stylist who has a keen sense of color and style. She was born in Michoacan, Mexico on December 18, 1963. Family life was different back then as Tia-Mama gathered wood for fires, did laundry for the family, and created homemade tortillas for meals. Shopping at stores was a luxury for her and she remembers that most of the children in the neighborhood wore hand-me-downs.
Mexico is a rich and story-filled culture that teaches children early on the importance of tolerance and kindness, especially through games. In many neighborhoods you might find such games as escondidas (hide-and-seek), balero (a ball attached to a string inside a cup) or the traditional piñata. Dance is equally important to family celebrations and community festivals. Tia-Mama mentioned that there really wasn’t much time for celebrations, though she did remember one where her father’s birthday was honored in San Juan and many family members attended.
At the young age of 14, she traveled by herself to California to live with family members. She remembers wanting very much to save money to buy her own roller skates. (Thus, the title of our article!) We couldn’t imagine being only 14 and traveling so far to live and being away from your family.
Our grandmother went to cosmetology school in California and had a house shoppe before moving east. She now owns her own two salons, one in Sioux City and one in Rock Valley. She is very creative with hair design and as you can see in the picture we have fun each summer with new colors and new styles. We feel pretty lucky to have our own personal hair designer!
Holidays now are great fun. Sometimes they are small gatherings, but other times the entire family comes. We celebrate with some traditional Mexican food such as: posole-a special soup, rice and beans, tres leches cake, Mexican sweetbread, and homemade tortillas. Now-a-days, we often have store bought tortillas as there are so many good brands to find. When we visited Mexico, Tia-Mama’s sister, Yolanda showed us how to make traditional tortillas by hand and we now have small tortilla presses to use.
Most of Tia-Mama’s family is bilingual, as is our father, so family gatherings are often centered in Spanish. We are learning a little each time, and hope someday to also be bilingual. Our Dad, Ramon, translates for us and we have a great time learning new things.
Te queremos, Tia-Mama, y gracias. We love you, Tia-Mama, and thank you. We are so very glad you chose this place to live and to celebrate two cultures with us every day.
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This is the last of eight stories from the feature reporters at Kid Scoop News, a monthly newspaper tabloid designed for and by Siouxland students. The hope is that these readings might inspire others to start recording the stories of friends, family members and loved ones they don't want to forget.
