Month: June 2025

My mother, Virginia, was unconventional. She began her journey as a mother and launched her career in translation and interpreting successfully, while already having six children. To top it off, she got her high school and college diplomas during the same time period. She did have a great head start from the excellent education she received at St. George in Havana, Cuba, where she gained her strong prowess in the English language.

But what drove her to excellence was her joy for life. She knew that life is the greatest gift one has. She received from our grandmother, Concha, an understanding of how precious life is, as her mother wanted so much to have a child and took the risk of her life to bring a baby into the world. That baby was my Mami. This was something indelibly impressed upon her mind and soul.

She knew her mother had wanted to have many children but could not. But her extended family was large, and she quickly became close to her two cousins, Albertico and Bebo. To us, her children, they were our uncles. Whenever they came by, you could always see the joy in my mother’s face. She knew the happiness of family, and that is why she was determined to have a large one.

She got what she wanted and both the fun and the headaches that came with it. I remember my mother typing a book report for my brother Javier in high school in the morning before the bus came! Or when she made me and Javier walk to our high school in the snow because we purposely missed the bus. She was also always there for all of us with our illnesses, taking us to the doctor and making sure we got better and the right care. She read up on everything, and this was before the internet; she spent hours at the library doing research. Often, she knew more than the doctors about what ailed us!

She also had her very private side that only family knew: that she was deeply religious. She had a deep devotion to St. Jude Thaddeus and our holy mother, Mary. I know this because, having spent much time living at my mom’s house, as my wife and I jokingly called “Our Weekend Residence,” I was able to actually get to know her so much better.

She would say prayers every morning, thanking God for the gift of another day and the lack of pain she had from her various cancers. In the evening, she would pray to God, often asking help from the saints, for forgiveness for her sins and for one more day to enjoy the gift that is life itself.

She confided in me that it hurt her deeply, the mistakes she had made in handling certain family matters that later caused problems. She felt she tried her best to make things right and had decided this was of considerable concern, so she added it to her daily prayers. She had great hope that the love of Jesus Christ would come down on the hearts of those affected and heal all wounds.

My mom was a wonderful person; she had great loves, great friends, a huge and happy family. She traveled the world and loved her career, living this earthly life to the fullest. “No one is good but God alone,” as Jesus said, and my mom knew it, and we all should accept this truth that few of us are saints.

In her last hours on her deathbed, she frequently raised her hand and made the sign of the cross, blessing herself. Then, I am told by Rebecca and Donna that she said in her last hour of life, as if to someone, “I know, I am sorry.” This to me is a sign of her humility and love. And there is no greater gift that she could have given me than this example of loving repentance as she was dying. I pray that we can all come to the humility of asking forgiveness and granting it, which is the Christian way.

For this reason, I ask everyone to always remember her in your prayers, and when she gets into heaven, she will remember us as well.

A Mother’s Heart