An experienced dental field professional, Jolene Cervera-Aguado has worked in Texas and Colorado. She is also a full-time student at Pikes Peak Community College. Jolene enjoys spending time with her family, husband Joey, son Peyton, son Clayton, and dog Romo. She lives and breathes competition and a family- first mentality. In “Forever Grateful,” Jolene writes about how much she cherishes her diverse family background.
Growing up in a mixed ethnicity household taught me lessons I will be forever grateful for. My mother, blonde haired and with eyes as blue as the Texas sky, was a transplant from Minnesota. My father, a hardworking Hispanic, was a native Texan with deep roots in Mexico. The combination of the two led to the birth of a fiery redhead with a passion for understanding everything about her own mixed cultures.
Childhood for me seems to have been so different from what I have witnessed with my children. I grew up in a very diverse neighborhood in San Antonio, the melting pot of Texas. Looking back, however, I recall that the neighborhood was not in the most desirable area. Yet my childhood home on Hickory Hill was heaven to me. I vividly remember my swing set which caused a three inch scar on my right knee.
My neighborhood taught me countless lessons on how to simply be human without any prejudice. I grew up along African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Middle-Eastern friends. As a child, I did not see them as any different from me. They were (and many still are) simply my friends. They were my rag-tag bunch of bicycle riders and evening football players with my dad as all-time quarterback. My dad treated each of us the same and showed me valuable lessons in how to treat others as I wished to be treated. In the country’s current situation, there has been so much more focus on racial injustice, racism, and bigotry. I am grateful for a childhood full of meshing cultures.
My father has been such an inspiration to me since day one. A strong Mexican-American man who embodied the “macho” mindset, he never missed a day of work. I will always cherish his dedication and sacrifice to ensure my family’s well-being. He worked as an automobile glass repair technician, so his hands and forearms were constantly covered in cuts and scrapes. I remember watching him walk through the door, tired and battered after long days at work, only to see his face brighten up when he saw me. It was my daily highlight. His ability to garner a second wind just to play with my brother and me was uncanny. He always preached, “family first” and truly encompassed the spirit of his favorite saying. This is exactly how I learned to treat my children with the same energy and love. My father’s unconditional love taught me gratitude for sacrifice and hard work.
Spending time with our extended family in Texas was such a joy. If you don’t know, any gathering in a Mexican-American family involves food, and lots of it. Menudo, barbacoa, pico de gallo, fajitas, rice, and pinto beans have been staples of my life ever since. The strange scent of menudo, made with beef stomach (tripe) in broth with a red chili pepper base would engulf “abuelita Anita’s” house. The aforementioned foods packed with flavor and spice took to my taste buds and stuck forever.
On the other hand, spending time in Minnesota visiting my mother’s extended family was entirely different. Tater-tot hot dish, shepherd’s pie, rhubarb pie, and meatloaf were introduced to me and proved to be the extreme opposite of the spicy South Texas delicacies I grew to love. Even with such different tastes, these foods also appealed to me, and baking with Grandma Evelyn brought me even closer to my northern family members.
Working the farm with Grandpa and riding his big John Deere tractor showed me an entirely different side of life. Picking fresh vegetables with Grandma is a memory I still cherish. The smell of Minnesota soil has never been replicated. The amount of work one man is willing to put in for his family is immeasurable. Back home in San Antonio, we lived in the concrete jungle with chain-linked fences and potholes. In Roseau, Minnesota, I learned the joys of dirt roads, forests, and what enormous snows were really like. A simple life of living within your means and literally living off of the land showed me how great I had it back home. Waking up to the roosters and rushing to beat what my northern family members called heat at 80 degrees instilled in me my current early-bird-gets-the-worm mindset.
My mother, and her huge heart of gold taught me how to love with no end and to never give up. During my childhood, my mother worked odd jobs to help my father provide for my family. With limited time to help and without adding the burden of daycare, she even worked night shifts. Unable to attend college due to finances, she put her dreams on hold for our well-being. At the age of fifty-three, she was finally able to become the registered nurse she had always dreamed of. Her willingness to put her dreams on hold for her family, further solidified my father’s number one priority in life, family first.
Now here I am, after putting my own dreams on hold for my husband’s desire to serve his country, back in college with fierce motivation. My mother showed me a path to be able to put my family first and still accomplish my own goals. I am forever grateful.
As a teenager I temporarily lost focus on what I had to be grateful for. I knew it all and thought the world revolved around me. I was quickly humbled by a fateful phone call from Grandma Evelyn. Grandpa had suddenly passed. All the memories of Minnesota summers quickly rushed my thoughts. At that point in life I hadn’t experienced a significant loss of anyone, much less someone as close to me as Grandpa was. The loss of my Grandpa was a wake-up call. I realized I needed to reassess my father’s lifelong lesson of family first. The thought of losing anyone else drove me to new heights. I knew I had to be grateful for the people in my life, and I reestablished my gratitude for all of those around me.
One thing in life is inevitable: Death. Living a life where gratitude and family are top priorities will teach you invaluable lessons. Taking the time to learn from everyone you come across will show you there is more to life than just your bubble. Live with a heart full of love for all, cherish the ones you truly love, and always be grateful for your opportunity to wake up each day a little better than the day prior.
