Lessons learned from a very strong woman

Lessons learned from
a very strong woman
May 11, 2014
By: Gina Yoryet Roman


On Friday night I called a couple of places to make a reservation for late lunch on May 10, at no avail. I should’ve known that a lot of the most popular restaurants are packed because of Mother’s Day. Next year if that symbolic woman and I are together, I will most definitely make a reservation at an elegant restaurant for the two of us to dine, chat and for us to talk about us then and now.

Yesterday,  May 10th, though we didn’t go to La Pasta, the place I’d chosen to take my procreator, we spent a great part of the day together and I found it very solemn because we dined, chatted and I was able to reminiscence about my childhood when she shared many stories with me.

I love hearing those anecdotes but I mostly like all the sayings she used to tell my siblings and I when we were much younger:

‘Sabe más el diablo por viejo que por diablo.’ - The Devil is Wise, because of his age, and it doesn't matter who is he, but his experiences. Meaning that the older you are, the more knowledge you have gained.
‘Si no quieres ver visiones, no andes de noche.’ If you don’t want problems, don’t look for them.
‘Ser pendejo cuesta.’ - You pay a high price when you make mistakes.

I don’t know how she could handle eight children and the five girls were more than a handful. Poor mother! I’ve apologized a few times about all our teenage insensitivity. I try to be more understanding now that I am older but I still don’t know what it’s like to deal with children, I hope I have the opportunity one day soon, and only then I will really know!

That’s why her lessons and principles are the most useful in my life and since I highly admire this special woman, I’ve done my best to be led by those principles under any circumstances.

Honesty: Don’t ever steal, screw anyone out or take advantage of them because all that bad karma can come back to you.

Loyalty: One day, when you are in a partnership, whether business, friendship, dating, marriage, remain loyal no matter what.

Strength: Understand that you will be bent temporarily through ill-fated times but you can and you will bounce right back. Whatever doesn't kill you, will make you stronger, that’s why never give room for weeping.

Respect: Always treat people from all walks of life with respect, the way you like to be treated.

These principles are very meaningful and all my siblings and I, highly praise and live by them.  When I talk to one of my brothers or sisters on the phone, we sometimes discuss how valuable and profitable that’s been for our spiritual and emotional capital even when some of us have been hurt and betrayed.

True, those betrayals have been painful temporarily but in the end, they were another learning experience that made us more resistant which means that we won’t retaliate by playing the same game. We've instead forgiven, learned and let go. When I finally find the man I am destined to share my life with, my devotion to him will be based upon us growing and learning together as a whole, not on someone else’s falsehoods because I want the best for us, that’s why I will always pray for his spiritual, personal, emotional, physical, professional and financial well being.


So, THANK YOU MOM!