Claudia

Claudia’s five words are Positive, Unique, Energetic, Curious and Funny. She is a wife and the mother of a young daughter and a younger son, and the four of them share a one-bedroom apartment in a large Northeastern city. In 2020 everyone was learning or working from home in that space: it's a bit challenging. She works remotely as a school aide, translating for Spanish-speaking parents. Her passion is hair, which she trained in: she loves coloring hair cutting hair. She is a female hispanic and proud to be that, proud of the language, the food and the music.

She gave her defining moments titles: Accomplished, Love Every After, Next Chapter of our Lives and Loss. The first was a certificate that led to a city job. Then a proposal after eight years together, when I didn't think we would ever get marriage. Then a daughter, delivered safely after a risky pregnancy, and a son two years later, blissful but also worrysome. Then, a year before the diary, her aunt died after a bicycle accident: she was my second mother I was more at her home than my own. It was one of the worse days of my life. Her lesson: Stop living for the future live for now, enjoy the little moments of happiness and smile. When she is sad, her son tells her, mama we are a team and your going to be ok.

Food, for her, is a kind of fashion: I think Fish is Sexy and Sushi is Fierce and Grape leaves have attitude. Her mother always added a salad or a vegetable; a grandmother was careful about portions. Her husband makes breakfast, and she makes lunch and dinner. Heritage means Rice and Beans and Chicken maybe some Pernil, made at Christmas or Easter from a recipe her mother-in-law showed her once: I made sure to pay close attention. Her day starts with hotwater with Lemon. She has thought about going vegan for years, and her worry is protein, and proteing and more protein. Her questions for a vegan friend begin with the body: Most Important how do you feel when you wake up?

In the spring, kept indoors with two very active children, the family climbed stairs and ran the hallway: We opened up the living room for the kids to be able to dance. Her lesson: where there is a will there is a way. Her superpower is that I try and not get annoyed with silly BS; her weakness, My short temper. Under stress she counts to ten, drinks water, takes a shower, burns incense and stretches. Often she forgets to eat: I didn't eat all day, but I feed my kids... One reading is that the care she gives runs ahead of the care she takes, and she says so only in passing. Her 2 a.m. person is a friend who would pick up and help me at the drop of a hat. She is grateful for her small apartment, for jobs kept, for being able to put food on the table.

On Day 5 she wants to stop eating so fast, because I have to rush and help with one of my kids to eat. Her barrier is mainly time. What would help is simple: Another set of hands. Her daily affirmation is borrowed from her daughter’s teacher: Be proactive and keep your head up high.

Her letter is funny and loving. It ends with advice to lighten up: Stop being super serious when the kids are not looking.