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People call me Petra all the time. I don't mind. Petra was my grandmother from my father's side. She was the heart of our family...I remember her cooking tortillas in the kitchen and letting us play with the dough. Everyone in the family would come through her doors throughout the week to visit, eat and check on her. And us kids? Well...we dominated her house in the summers. The chanclas flew. We got kicked out of the house a lot. She bonded us for life with those memories...
You see my grandmother helped raise me and nearly all of my cousins. She was a solid rock for us growing up in ways that our parents weren't able to be. Reliable. Trustworthy. Always...and I mean always, there for us. The thing I remember the most about her were her hugs. She hugged with her whole body. You really had no choice. She pulled you in and kissed you whether you wanted her to or not. I never questioned whether my grandma loved me. I knew she did.
Growing up I never knew my grandmother was illiterate. I never knew she couldn't read or write. She practiced writing her name all the time. She drew roses on everything. Mail, magazines...any paper she could get her hands on. It's one of the things I never appreciated but now it's seared in my memory.
I named my business after her because I never realized how powerful her impact was on me. Not until later. This woman was a rock solid presence in my life when nothing else was. I always knew her door was open to me. As I got older I found myself emotional when she hugged me. The older I got the fewer hugs were exchanged between us, but they seemed to carry so much more impact. There were times I felt like I couldn't bear anymore life and when she'd wrap me in her arms I'd just cry. She was my North...
As Mothers Day approaches I think of her often. And as more people call me Petra she comes up in many conversations in the shop. Her memory still keeps me pointed North. Yes, I want to make money in this business. I absolutely want to succeed. I want to make an impact in ways that will affect hearts. But really I want everyone to know this; every part of me and this business is here because I stand on her shoulders. The foundation of who I am and everything I fight for comes as a blessing from her sacrifices. And what it comes down to is this; I fight everyday to be someone else's North.
Health & hugs,
Yolanda