I want to share about my journey that has gotten me thus far. Sister Barbara Rose might share from her point of view.
One of my fond memories is when I was around 9 years of age. The stirrings of a religious vocation started, I think. We had the Benedictine Sisters from Crookston, Minnesota working as missionaries in Asherton, Texas. Those Sisters were my angels. They walked swishing their long skirts all the while. It was not a walk. It was a glide. They glided. They wore long black dresses and corrugated bibs and boxey tall forehead bands. They put both of their arms inside the big, wide sleeve...left arm in right sleeve, right arm in left sleeve. I secretly imitated them at home...wearing a bath towel for a veil and Mom's bathrobe for my long habit. Funny, now!
Mine was a large family: Mom, Juanita and Dad, José and eleven children. I happen to be right smack in the middle: María, Jesús, Luís, Josefa, Eva and ME. After me came, José, Elida, Concepción, Elsa and baby Carlos.
Our lives were lived simply. We played games imitating stories we heard on the radio or we imitated the life of our Catholic church. The church ceremonies were a part of our lives. "Baptizing" our dolls was a necessary event. Mom would allow us to invite our friends to be the godmothers, "the madrinas", for our dolls. We even bought Mexican sweet bread and served hot chocolate for the reception after the baptism. We played "Mass" and served Necco candies for the hosts. All was done with great reverence, I'm sure...right after the fights about who was going to get the honors of being the priest for the day.
I did forget about "the call" to be a nun, however, when I started middle school and I started noticing the boys. Well, I actually did not notice the boys at all at first until my sisters started dating. I didn't want to be left out so I started responding to the boys "looks". I did, however, like two boys: Mario from Carrizo Springs, Texas (his parents owned a theater) and Eduardo (his parents were fellow field workers in Oregon). I liked both of these boys. But the two boys that "stuck to me" most were Ignacio and Clemente both from Carrizo Springs. Unfortunately, I really did not really enjoy their company. I think I tolerated them until I could get the boys I really wanted. Not nice of me!
Back to the nagging "call" from God. By the time I entered high school the more I flirted with boys, the less interested I became in them. I wanted MORE! I did not know what that more was all about but I wanted wings to fly high. I saw huge possibilities. I wanted to be a doctor and take care of my Dad with his bad heart. I wanted to be a flight attendant and travel all over the world seeing new places and things. I wanted to learn to play a musical instrument well. I played the saxophone in middle school. Maybe I could be a clothes designer. I did not want to be "stuck" being a mother of many kids and having a hard working husband...who would always be tired and all of us would be poor. No! I wanted much, much more!
