Sonia Vasquez (SV) and Tina Vasquez (TV)
SV: I was a daycare provider. I work at the gym in the deli. I take care of the elderly.
TV: Yeah all those jobs at once.
SV: Yes.
TV: I remember you were coming home one night and you told me you were so tired that you had fallen asleep at a red light. And didn’t realize it until a car came behind you and honked the horn.
SV: Because I was so stressed and I was overworked, I used to be very aggressive at times with you. Once, you were about three or four and you were playing with your dolls. And you were shouting at them and I said, ”Oh my gosh is that the way I act towards you?” I remember one day you said to me, ”Mommy I don’t like the way you speak to me. If you tell me the good things first and then the bad things, I will listen to you. But when you don’t I just tune you out.” And I said, ”If you ever see me do that again please tell me.” And from that day on we were like two pea in a pod. Our time together was really the Friday nights when we’d go to Denny’s.
TV: They knew we only could afford one meal, but they’d bring us like a meal and a half and one plate.
SV: Yep, and we’d share it. And I also remember when I’d take you shopping to get stuff for Christmas and I’d say, ”Pick a pair of sneakers that you want.” You went and you picked a five dollar sneaker when all your friends were wearing these expensive sneakers.
TV: But you gave me so much more than that. You know, you don’t have the PhD this or the Masters that, but your experience I feel like is worth ten times those things. You make it sound like if I wanted to in this moment I could go walk on the moon.
SV: No matter what you want, if you want the shirt off my back it’s yours.