In memory of Silvia and Richard

Richard Anthony Desjardins Jr is my father and was born in Waterbury, CT on July 30th, 1962.  He is the middle child; with one older sister and one younger brother.  My father had many careers during his short life - a baker, electrical salesman, a painter, a maintenance worker, among others.  He loved cars, motorcycles, and classic rock.  He could fix almost anything and taught me many life skills that have facilitated my time living on my own.  His lifelong nickname was "jellyhead" because he would always hurt himself doing the simplest tasks.  My mother shortened his nickname to "jel".  I definitely get my clumsiness from my father! Thankfully, I have his patience and not my mother's!     

Silvia is my mom. She was born on November 5th, 1956. She was originally from a very small town called Nahuatzen, located in rural Michoacan, west of Mexico. She lived there during the first years of her life. Her family had a modest house, her dad worked as a farmer there and he would also migrate temporarily to the U.S. to work as a "bracero", - a laborer admitted to the U.S. especially for seasonal contract labor in agriculture - since it was a well paid job. Later, when she was a teenager, her family moved to Mexico City. Rural-to-urban migration was a common practice in Mexico during the sixties and seventies. During these decades many Mexican families started looking for better opportunities in the city since farming was becoming less and less profitable. Hence, Silvia's journey continued in Mexico City, her family moved to different neighborhoods while across the city. Her dad found a job at a book company. He was in charge of pasting book covers. This became...