My best friends (and sisters) Karen and Aide Aguilar when I lived in El Salvador. I’d spend summer vacation with them every year until I moved to the US when I was 11. Karen is in medical school and Aide is getting a Ph.D. in math. I have really smart old friends.
Tio Tulio
Aunt Lidia’s house
Captures of the mothers in the Guzman family: My Grandma, My Mother, My Sister
My favorite aunt’s house
My mom’s oldest brother, Tulio, who was in charge of all the land the Aguilar’s own. He’s in his early 80s now.
Gualache, Usulutan, El Salvador
A house down the street from my dad’s that sells goods to all the townspeople. My favorite thing about these stores is that they sell you a soda and put it in a little transparent baggie with a straw through it. I don’t know why that makes it better to drink.
After 10 years in abeyance, my mom and I were able to go back to El Salvador. Since we didn’t go for the best reasons, I haven’t looked at these images in two years. However, I feel like for my own personal gain and strength, I should. My country is a very poor place, but it’s also very vibrant. It’s mostly all dirt and littering, sometimes, but when you find the diamonds, they glisten forever. I’m really happy I got to see it again. I’m happier to go back this year without the burdens that I carried with me the last time I went.
My gift to my mom today is to pick myself back up from the horrors of the past, and be reborn again a stronger woman for her. I love my mom the most out of anything else on the universe. I’d give up breathing, eating, talking, loving, virtually anything to see her smile and enjoy her beautiful life.
My mom in Gualache, Usulutan, El Salvador
