My Old Man June 16, 2017

My old man made me, literally and in so many other ways.

He rocked me to sleep. He loved me.

He gave me my nose and my chin and my stubborness.

He taught me.

Some of the lessons were good.

Some of the lessons were not what he intended.

He was occasionally kind and often he was rude.

My old man was so smart…and so stuck.

He loved. He feared.  He lashed out.

He didn’t know how to say he was sorry.

He prayed the rosary daily, dedicating each section to one of his children.

He cursed like a sailor.

My old man suffered, more than I will ever know.

He knew loss greater than I have known.

Sometimes he made me proud and a lot of times he really pissed me off.

In the end, he taught me compassion and forgiveness.

My old man, my father,

I will always love him and miss him.

Happy Father’s Day Dad.

 

Anna Figueroa

The River of Life November 7, 2015

El Rio de la Vida

I was asked to translate this post so here is as close as I can get in English:

Life

Life is short and doesn’t understand anything but what you do; it rushes on, refusing to pause to contemplate regrets, no matter how hard we beg it for a chance to go back.
What’s done is done.

Our days run like water through our fingers, happiness and sadness dripping away no matter how much we wish to hold on to them.
Words, once said, are said.

Life is short and continues on without taking anything personal. It keeps going whether your heart is bleeding from the pain or trembling in passion. It keeps going because math has nothing to do with philosophy.
What’s given, is given.

Life’s a bitch that doesn’t forgive and doesn’t reward…it just keeps flowing.

Life doesn’t care about un-kept promises or dreams that haven’t come true yet. It keeps going by divine design and by the law of energy. It rushes like a furious river, taking all that’s good and all that’s bad by brute force.

Life gives you only one option: you live it or you watch it race by you without a glance. The decision is ours to make, but whatever our choice, live just goes on.

Anna Figueroa
November 3, 2015