My beloved world

My Beloved World In Sonia Sotomayor’s book, My Beloved World, Sotomayor mentioned a memory in her childhood that I could definitely relate my past with. “If I needed to have these shots every day for the rest of my life, the only way I’d survive was to do it myself.” Those lines represent a time in Sotomayor’s life when a decision had to be made. She had to either learn how to prepare the syringe and inject the insulin or she could possibly risk being stabbed in the face by her panicking mother or father. This image reminds me of a time in my childhood when my grandmother grew too weak to manage herself around the house, and especially me. Being the youngest child of 7 at the time, someone had to take care of me while my siblings were at school and my parents were at work. We were a low income family who gradually lived off food stamps so we couldn’t really afford a babysitter. Grandma would usually be the one who took care of me but since her hip surgery, she became very immobile. I didn’t know much about taking care of myself but it had to be learned and it had to be fast. The most important skill I had to learn was to cook. I would also have to cook for grandma but my knowledge on cooking meat and vegetables were beyond my knowledge. Grandma guided me how to turn on the stove, apply the oil, marinate the meat, and then grilling the meat. I’ve applied those skills into my every life from the age of 5 until now, and still growing. Without learning those skills, either grandma or I would be the ones to suffer and that is why I feel like I can relate to Sotomayor’s decision to learn how to support her own life when her family couldn’t.