How Montegue-Capulet Changed My Life

Was it luck, was it faith or was pure work that led up to the place I am right now? I am grateful for where I am, even if I will never know which or the combination of thereof got me to this place, a place a boy like me was never supposed to end up. So you may ask who a boy like me was and on the surface others would tell you I was quiet, short, chubby, and maybe a little weird; but please let me elaborate on who a boy like me was under the surface. A boy like me was one of many cultural backgrounds that struggled to fit in and still tiptoes around different definitions of who he is. A boy like me was one that grew up around those who lived in the present; relishing its joys and enduring its struggles while letting the future hit with its uncertainty.
Though both my parents came from a Hispanic background their conflicting cultures of first generation American and “chicano” shaped my identity. I vividly remember my birthday parties that I despised more than enjoyed as my two families came together with opposing values and language barriers in conflict on how I was being raised. Although this Montegue-Capulet like relationship ultimately led to the separation of my parents early on I was able to grow to love both of my families in their own way and identify with
But although I had a close family that doesn’t mean my family life was perfect or without obstacles. The respect for my family members is un-parallel by any other object in this world. On my fathers’ side, I learned what it meant for people to leave their homeland in Mexico for a shot at opportunity without guarantee and successfully build a life in Denver. On my mothers side, I learned what it meant for a family to endure loses that no family should and still stand strong. These loses included the loss of my aunty to demotic violence at the young age of 32 and the stroke of my uncle at the age of 33 that left him without the ability to walk and care for himself. Throughout high school I made sacrifices to help my grandparents take care of my uncle and to this day my entire immediate family continues to do so with the hope that he will walk again. These experiences ultimately taught me what life means as it can be short for some like my auntie’s case and for others it can be unfair like in my uncle’s