María Guadalupe Hernández Navarro
My mother told me a version of her that I never knew.
She told the story of a beautiful Mexican woman who been cheated on multiple times. The story of a woman whose husband left several times. She had no job and no education but her children kept her going.
My mother told me the story of a beautiful woman that grew ill one day and stopped eating. She grew thinner everyday. The children old enough to fend for themselves started looking for jobs to help their mother . The father walked in and out but she never spoke ill of him. She still desired for her children to respect their father.
Nearly 40 years later, my mother told the story of how she nearly saw her mother die. It seemed like she gave up on life. She then soon realized she had life growing inside of her and she had to protect it.
María Guadalupe was a victim of sexism in Mexico among many other women around the world 🌎
She never divorced because it was against society .
Her husband did as he pleased and she was the one who paid the consequence.
I met her as the fun outgoing grandma.
The world was cruel to her .
Her sin was being born a woman . She married and had kids and That’s the life she was raised to have .
Whether she was ever actually happy , I’ll never know. But I do know if she would’ve be given the freedom women these days have , she would’ve gone to do great things .
Even at her late age , she loved watching discovery channel and history channel and she picked up on information real quick .
Witty , sarcastic, and not afraid of complimenting the boyfriends her granddaughters would introduce her .
I’m happy to say that I think I made her happy. When I started working , I gave her shopping money.
When I got my license and grew confident, I took her shopping and would play her music .
It’s sad to know she’ll never meet my kids
All I want is for someone to know she was alive .
Please ! Stand up for yourself. Take care of yourself . Love yourself .
