I was given the number 7, a prime. Thank you Elizabeth M. Rivera Hudders. These are some things you may not know about me. 1. I was born late in the life of my parents, my mother was 43 and my father was 60, as they were born in 1912 and 1896 respectively. I was my mothers third try at motherhood, having lost her two previous babies halfway through those pregnancies. A wild shot perhaps, but a fluke I was not. 2. My parents came from large families. My mother was the youngest of 13, my father the youngest of many more than that. Surprisingly, I was the only child of their relationship. 3. My father was married, but not to my mother. I was born out of wedlock. I never heard a hint about this while I was being raised by my mother, no one in my family has ever broached the subject, ever, to this day. I came to know about this when my mother welcomed my elderly father to come live with us while at high school. He lived his last years in our care. I say this twenty years after my mothers passing, and state unerringly that there is no one I owe more to and am more proud of than my mother. She was very brave, very proud, very wise, very strong, loving, hardworking, generous, discreet and loyal, both to her friends and to , precociousher family. I do miss her now, and without a doubt, always will. 4. I have a wonderful and brilliant half-sister on my fathers side, a distinguished college professor and the mother of three boys, my three nephews, who is seventeen years older than me: Dr. Elsa Gomez. As the culmination of a very successful academic career she was named President of Kean College in New Jersey in 1990. I am very, very, proud of her. I met her for the first time when my father was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1980. That explains why everyone knows me as an only child while having an older and prominent sister. 5. I came to live in Puerto Rico at the age of seven, some fifty years ago. Until then I had been enrolled in a Catholic School, Our Lady of Lourdes, in Manhattan, and came down with a letter of recommendation signed by Cardinal Spellman, given to me in 1962. I was at the time the brightest student ( even though a second grader mind you ) in the Archdiocese of New York ( it seems that I read as well or better as all the kids in high school did ). I took the entry exam at my home towns Catholic School and failed, apparently because I didnt know enough english. Imagine that. I cant bring myself to believe that being the illegitimate son of a successful and attractive divorcee had anything to do with this. 6. My mother raised and wed three nieces before having me. She was the Godmother of two of my cousins, a radiologist and a librarian. They all loved my mother very much, and were like sisters to me. Teresa, Lidia, Carmelina and Lillian were doting and caring throughout my childhood. Little do they know how much they meant to me. 7. Im an early starter, precocious if you will. I learned how to read at age 3, played chess fairly well at 8, had read all of Tolkien, Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke by age 9, Shakespeare, Twain and Proust by age 10, was a senior at high school at 15, a college freshman at 16, a husband at 20, a college professor at 25, a registered architect at 26, a father of three at 27. True, I didnt become a grandfather until age 54, but as with the best things in life, it was well worth the wait. and an additional one, just for the sake of mentioning someone special 7.5 My mother lost her father and two brothers in the Spanish Flu pandemia of 1918. She was raised by my grandmothers half brother, a proud barber named Juan Arroyo. He is probably the first person I looked up to admiringly, as an example of how a man should live his life, fearlessly and fully. I knew him as Abuelo, my grandfather, and what I admired most was how fiercely and unflinchingly he loved my mother. I witnessed it, I saw it, clear as day. His love for her, and for me, sustained me, encouraged me and brought hope and peace both to her and to me. What a great man he was! Imagine him as I remember him, swarthy, big, tall, dressed in a white linen suit, white shirt, dark tie and panama hat, walking slowly and proudly with a small blonde whippersnapper of a grandson at his side. His son Juan Jose, together with Rosalina, were also instrumental in guiding me along the way of an independent education. They bought me my first books, and kept giving me books as presents for years, crucial years. Their kindness and their faith in me went far, I owe them much.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 04:00:31 +0000
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