I wish I had told them that they were my hero's.

Dear Mom and Dad,

I wish I had told you how much I admired you both, and that you were my heroes before you both left this world. Each of you had your personal journey in life and each overcame adversity to achieve your American Dream. When I think of you both, I feel that you both are at peace together in heaven. To the parents that never gave up on their dream and who worked hard to achieve their dream of homeownership. Despite, the lack of resources they managed to succeed. To the best parents any child could aspire to have, I love you and miss you dearly.

My mom was a first-generation Puerto Rican girl who came to the US in the late 1950s. She came here when she was 12 years old to New York City and she tried to enroll in a New York Public School. She was rejected. I don't know if there was a language barrier or if she suffered discrimination because my mother was a black Hispanic with no knowledge of English skills at the time. Not being able to attend school, she went to work at Georgina's Factory in Harlem as a floor girl. She cleaned up after everyone, and she did errands as a floor girl for years. That didn’t stop my mom, she worked hard and she learned English by going to the movies at night. My mom had a love affair with modern Cinema. She would see the movies with stars like Cary Grant, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Clark Gable just to name a few. She learned the little English she did by watching old classic films, and with no schooling. As she got older, she found a job as a waitress at a diner. After that job, she found another job at a factory in White Plains, where she met my dad. It was love at first sight, they married six months later. Although, they met late in life, my mom with 33, and my dad was 36. They decided they wanted a family. They married in 1968, and I was born in 1969 and then my sister in 1972. My mom stayed home to take care of us until we were of high school age. My father had worked in factories to support us. My mom decided to go to work with the New York City Board of Education as a lunch Aid in the schools. She prepared meals for the kids in New York City lunch room for years. Until one day, my mom had this awful cough that wouldn't go away. We convinced her to see a doctor, because the cough persisted. She finally saw a doctor, and she was told that she had fibrosis of the left lung. Her lung was shrinking, it was caused by being exposed to asbestos. We believed she got it at the school because many co-workers died of similar lung ailments. The only issue was that she couldn’t prove the school had asbestos and that it caused her lung condition. Her diagnosis was in 1998, and she died in 2010 due to diabetes and her lung condition. They had given my mom at most five years, but she lived for 12 years with her illness at 74. My mom had a strong will and a strong desire to live.

My dad survived my mother, so it was hard for him, he carried on with his health issues as well. When my mom had passed, they had been married for 42 years. I was proud of my dad, a Korean War veteran who served, when he was 17 years old in Puerto Rico. He was trying to stay in the army but he had one impediment, he didn't know English. Although, he tried to learn he never caught on to learning English so they gave him an honorable discharge from Army in 1954. He was sad and discouraged, but he took on many factory jobs. And in one job his fingers got caught in a wood cutting machine his fingers and wrist were fractured. They had to sew back his fingers and his wrist fracture never healed. My dad had issues with his right wrist for years.

Before my mom passed away, my dad and mom became first-time homeowners in Ocala, Florida. They never dreamed that they could own a home of their own since they bought it later in life. They could never afford a home in New York, but they fell in love with Pompano Beach, Florida a community my cousin lived in. I found them in an affordable home on the internet in Ocala, Florida. It was within their budget, and with a guaranteed VA home loan, my dad and mom were able to purchase the home. They left for Florida after the September 11th attacks, in November of 2001. My mom died in Ocala in 2010, then my dad remained here in Ocala, until his passing in 2019.

Although, they went through a lot, they always tried to encourage me and my sister to aspire to something greater. They told us that hard work was important and education was important too. My mom had a third-grade education, but she pushed herself to learn English. My dad kept working hard despite his limited English. My parents were very old school, they came from a generation that expected nothing. They worked hard. I'm so proud to be the daughter of these two amazing Americans and that’s why they are my personal heroes.