Dear Anita,

what would happen then, little Cali Chica, what would life be if you were lucky, tell me?

Then, things would be better.  People would be nice and everyone would play together. our family would invite us and be nice to us, they would be happy for us.  and then everyone would be happy.  and if you tell them something good happening in your life, if then they are happy for us.

dear anita,

my mother is sometimes happy, because then she thinks – wow look good things happen to us too!

sometimes she doesn’t care becuause now she wants something else

Dear Anita ,

I can’t say whether she is nice or not, but I will say she keeps talking about it. For example if someone calls on the phone such as my aunt or someone, she will go on anon about how I made something good happen for us. She will talk about it all day, she will tell my dad how I did such a good thing, and how she is so lucky to have a good daughter like me who made this good thing happen.   But whether she is nicer to me, that I’m not sure, because I noticed that she just continues to talk about it to other people

I feel happy that I made her happy. I am glad I did a good thing to see her happy. She deserves it because so much bad happens for her. So I am glad when she feels that way

Here are some more I thought about,

My mom is happy when I perform dances at weddings and parties, it is common for us to do this sort of thing in my culture. I usually do a great job as I love dancing, and I will get a lot of compliments, people will come up to myself and my mom after the performance and say what a wonderful job I did. She’s very proud of this and she loves to tell people how she used to be a great dancer and that her kids take after her. It is very important to her that we are good dancers because she never got the chance to for fill her dancing talent in India because her parents didn’t have money, so she put my sister and I am to dance at a young age so that we would have this opportunity

Dear Anita,

Sometimes I feel bad that my mom had to send me to camp one summer, because she didnt know what I would do at home all summer – that I would get bored and lonely. She says how the camp was such a great one and so expensive – but a good idea because I had company and went everyday.  It was a good camp, we did so many activities like swimming.

I know my mom likes it when I am home too, because I give her company, we talk, and I sit with her when she is in the kitchen.  We go to the mall and library and other places.

Sometimes she is happy when my good friends come over, because it makes the atmosphere more lively.

You know Anita, there is this saying she always says about me – like something like “I bring life and laughter into the house”

That without me – the house is quiet and cold, but when I am there, “it is full of life” that I bring the “good energy”

She always says this about me, to my dad, and to others.  And if I am gone for a few days or something – she says it

you know Anita – I bring life and laughter into the house, and into her life.

You know what else Anita. When they talk about heroes and role models at school, I say my dad because he is a doctor.  It is a good job because he helps people.  All of his patients love him, and we are familly friends with some of them.  They always say he is such a good doctor, and sometimes if we see them at the store or at a party- they say my dad helped them so much.

Everyday when I talk to my dad on the phone or at home, I ask him “how are the patients?” and sometimes he tells me some stories.  i have been asking that ever since I was a baby I think.

a few times I visited my dads office, everyone there is so nice to me. my mom told me that my dad’s partner has jealousy of my dad, because he has a good wife and kids – and that the partner got divorced so many timmes.  she said that he is cunning and makes my dad work more than he does.

my mom says my dad is a really good doctor, and he has “really good hands.” that a lot of doctors don’t have good hands. but that my dad is especially good.  she also says how his job is good, but he could have even got a better one, but he didnt because if you’re from India it is harder.

my mom always says the hardest job is to stay at home.  You know that?

she says only a very strong person can stay at home.  because at home there is no one.  at work you can talk to people.  but if you are home at work all day doing work, like her – you have to be really strong.  she says how so many people can’t do it, like some of my aunts, so all they do is talk on the phone all day because they are lonely. or they always go drive somewhere.  because they aren’t that strong.

she says that one of the hardest jobs is a housewife because you have no where to go, all your work at home.  you know if my dad is home for a day, and he is tired or they have to do some house stuff – my mom always says “look see how hard it is, imagine if you had to stay home all day..”

she says how people who go to work, i mean moms who go to work, they come home and they dont do any work.  they dont even have to cook and clean!! that their husbands do that stuff, she says its so easy for them.  she says some people are okay with dirty houses, but not her.