The Good of Migrating (Mexico and Spain)
My family is Mexican and Spanish. All or almost all my family lives in either Mexico or the United States. The story of how my family got to Mexico from Spain is a completely different story that I don’t know anything about. This story revolves around my family coming here to the United States from Mexico. We are one of the only families in all of my ancestors and others in the larger family group to come here. We’re all connected still so we can always talk to each other. We came here because we didn’t make enough money in Mexico. My mom and dad left Mexico somewhere around 1998, and everything we had hoped for happend. My dad got a better job and my mom did get a job. My parent’s decision to come here was one that they’ll never regret.
My family had some difficulties coming here. They had to go under a fence that was treated poorly. There was a small opening on the bottom that anyone could go under. So they went under it. At that time it was just my mom, my dad, and my older brother who was a baby at the time. They had set up to have a car waiting for them across the border. The migration police wouldn’t be suspicious if they had seen the front seats of our car because my mom looks white and she can get away with it, so they never got stopped. Next, they arrived where they wanted and took a plane to Chicago. That was the exact time my family had received the new life they had hoped for.
I was born a year later, and I moved to Berwyn when I was four, so my parents lived in Chicago for about five years. My parents didn’t like the schools and the area. They thought about moving to Cicero, but the only houses that were available were in the ghetto. We ended up moving to Berwyn. I still remember my first day sleeping in my house. My older brother, my mom, and I slept in the living room with some pillows and a big brown blanket that we still have. My dad was probably there, but I only remember a fraction of the memory, and I hadn’t noticed him. I had slept with a smile on my face because I really liked the house.
My dad works multiple jobs. He has enough time to be with us even though he works two jobs. He works as a welder in a factory, and he also works as someone who gets an architects designs, and put it on the computer for the building to actually be built. It’s a job that I don’t what to name, but I know what he does. I’m pretty sure this is also his most high paying job, and the one he works in the most. He also made his own small business, where he fixes computers from others. This job is more of something to do in his free time, since he likes fixing computers. So in reality he had two jobs, but one is just for some extra money. He doesn’t get many hours with the architectural design one, and he has been a welder since we got to Chicago, so he needs those two jobs to act like one.
My dad also went to a school to learn more about computers. Not a regular school but a school just for computers. He just graduated this month and with his new education he can maybe get a new job with that. I don’t know what he will for sure use with this knowledge, but I know he’ll make something good out of it. Maybe it’ll be to extend his small business, or even get a new job.
My mom works as a waiter. She has been working at the same two restaurants for many years now. Both restaurants are of the same organization, and I’m pretty sure they both have the same manager. So its basically one job. She one day decided that was way too much for her and tried to get another job. She didn’t like it though, and her manager had asked her if she could to come back, so she did. Now she’s still works there every week.
My mom also had learned how to do hair. She’s always been cutting my hair for years, and I guess she wanted to learn more about it and maybe get a new job. She went to a school for barbers, I think. I’m not sure what specific field it is but I know it’s cut hair, how to do hair, etc. My mom has in the past years talked about doing hair for other people, and I guess she finally took a step forward on what she wanted to do. I think it’s cool that both my mom and dad decided to take what they love and do something with it.
My grandparents never moved here. In my dad’s side both his grandma and grandpa have visited here. On my mom’s side my grandma and grandpa have never been here. They have this fear of planes that makes them not want to go. My mom talks to them almost everyday, talking about whatever and plans of going to Mexico to visit them. Many other generations of my family didn’t come here. The family that has come here has only been coming here since some decades  ago.
The amount of family I have here isn’t a really large amount compared to the whole family. From what I can remember, I have few uncles and aunts and many cousins. But in Mexico I have probably four times of uncles and aunts and many more cousins. They don’t come here either because they like their home, or can’t afford it. But I’m pretty sure they’re more adjusted to Mexico, and would rather stay there where the majority of the family is.
I wish I could know more about my family’s migration story. My mom and dad’s jobs are relevant to their migration because they would’ve never gotten these jobs if they stayed in Mexico.
