1965 YOUNG AND INNOCENT

It was almost at the end of 1965 that I took this picture in front of my house on Earl Avenue in Corcoran, Ca.  I was 16 years old.  My life has always been full of stress.  Ever since I can remember I was stressing because I was either cold or hungry.  We were considered a family on the poverty line back then.  I never had enough of anything.  I was the oldest and therefore, had several responsibilities.  I was given exactly 15 minutes to get home from school or else I would be grounded.  My parents were very strict with me.  Worst thing of all is that I had to make 100 tortillas per day.  I had been doing it since I was 12 years of age. 
One day at Corcoran High School when I was only a freshman, a cute guy came up to my locker and asked me if he could walk me home.  I looked up at him and was instantly smitten.  I was "pure volada" and was so excited cause he actually was carrying all my books for me as we walked.  I told him that he could not walk me all the way home due to strict parents and relatives that were scoping the streets around the high school.  He said o.k.  We walked while making small talk.  A few blocks from home I stopped and asked him for my books and told him that was as far as he could walk me.  As he was handing me my books, my tia Lala and my uncle Mauricio drove by real slow.  I had a feeling that they would call my parents and tell them so I hurried home.  As soon as I opened the door, I asked my mom if Tia LaLa had called her. She said no.  I was so happy my tia didn't snitch on me.  Anyway, I ended falling in love with him and eventually at the young age of 17 married him.  All the while thinking he was the answer to all the stress and poverty I lived in.  Well, sad to say, it was the biggest mistake of my life.  The only beautiful thing that came out of my marriage was my three beautiful children.  I had Diana, Daniel and Jeannette.  I feel guilty for having him as their father.  In the end I was both mother and father to them.  If I could use one word to describe him it would be DEMON.  Some day he will pay for all that he has done to my children.  I don't care about me.  My children is what I care about.