My First Literature Teacher

One of the things I will forever thank my mom for is how she exposed me, at a very young age, to the world of literature, or should I say, how she began to expose me to the world through literature. When my sister and I were little, she would have us rest in her arms before going to bed or during siesta time, to tell us the story of the monkey and the turtle, the rabbit and the turtle, and many other short stories.When I turned five, she would sometimes come home from running errands and surprise me with a storybook. The first one she got me was William Tell. She wouldn't just buy me books, she would read them to me. One of my favorites was Little Red Riding Hood. My mother is neither a professional teacher nor an actress, but she would read the lines with feelings (sound effects and all) that I easily transcended to many places, with different characters, learning different life lessons. One day, she bought me and my sister a volume of fairy tales that came with a tape and a book. We would read the book together while listening to the tape. Until now, the voice of Rapunzel's prince still rings in my mind: "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"

So at a young age, I learned that heroes naturally co-exist with villains and that I should identify myself with the hero or heroine who will always pursue goodness and righteousness.

My mother does not read stories to me now that I am 25, but what my mother did to me when I was young indeed opened my mind to the big world, to different kinds of people, to unexpected events and to the knowledge that we have to be victorious in life. When I am going through something, I say to myself: "When this is over, I'll be stronger and wiser."

I am still a work in progress in terms of learning how to live life but now that literature has been a part of my life, the possibilities are endless.

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Thank you, Mama Carmen. You are the best Mom in the world! I love you...