When We Were Widows

by Annette Chavez Macias

“Dad didn’t like caldo de res. His favorite was chicken caldo,” I argued.

Girl wtf is your problem

She’d made this wonderful dinner to celebrate my birthday, and I’d gone and acted like a brat for most of it.

Y tu madre que? Caís mal Yésica

“There are many reasons why you make me proud, Mija. But the way you acted tonight was not one of them. And it had nothing to do with how much you drank. You may have a successful job and a beautiful home and many people who respect you. That doesn’t mean you have the right to treat your mother the way you treated her. She is still your mother and deserves more than you will ever know. So think of that the next time you disrespect her in front of strangers.”

Yesssss Mamá Melda!!

cup of ramen mixed with lemon and Tapatío.

The perfect combo 👌🏽

“How about you let me decide who I deserve to be with?” he said with a shrug.

“Our parents aren’t supposed to be perfect,” he finally said. “We just think they are because when we’re little, we need them to be.

😭

Grief, I’d learned, didn’t have a finish line. It was an endless journey. Some days the path was easy, and other days you’d be running perfectly fine and then, out of nowhere, you’d stumble, and the pain would come roaring back as if your loss had just happened.