06/23/2025
In this photo, my mom had just turned 18 years old. She was about to finish high school at a classical lyceum, where only eight students made it to the endâtwo girls and six boys. The others were all children of doctors, professors, and lawyers, but she was the only one whose parents were an electrician and a homemaker. My grandparents had only an elementary school education, and she had to wake up at five every morning to catch the bus with the working men to get to school. By her senior year, her paternal grandfather told her it was time to find a job; they were looking for a secretary, a well-paid and prestigious position for a good girl.
My mom was excellent in school and was sad to stop studying, but they couldn't afford it; there wasn't enough money. Then one evening, her father, my beloved grandfather Lidio, took her aside and said: "This money was set aside for your dowry. Take it and enroll in university. You can always buy sheets later." It was 1960, and my grandfather didn't even have a middle school diploma. He was an orphan from a young age, yet he was always light years ahead. After all, he had two daughters, and to those who said, "Poor thing, itâs a pity you didn't have a boy," he always replied that his daughters were the best thing life could offer him.
My mom graduated in five years, studying in the mornings and tutoring in the afternoons to support herself. She became a teacher, and since retiring, she writes books and edits theses, all thanks to a revolutionary working-class father who, in 1960, chose to invest in education rather than household linens. My grandfather was a superhero.
Credit - Original owner