There is an endless amount of people I have encountered in my lifetime, but none has had such an astounding impact like my grandfather Antonio. I was only six and naïve when he passed, and I thought he would be with me forever. A couple months before his passing, we went out take a walk and he told me his motto in life: “Live life, don’t let it live you.” As I recall, no one has had such an impact in my life with words as my grandpa Tonio. I was born in a small ranching town in Zacatecas, Mexico. All everyone knew how to do was herd cattle and grow cash crops as most people only completed 6 years of schooling. At the very young age my grandfather (with the absence of my dad in the U.S.) took me out with him to take the cattle for grazing in the morning and to plow the crops during the afternoon. While walking and herding the rowdy cattle or sitting in the tractor while plowing everlasting fields of crops, grandpa Tonio would tell me stories of how he met my grandma or how he had to leave his home to come to the U.S. and work under the Braceros Program. Never did I hear my grandfather complain about a thing in his life, which I imagine was harder than I could ever think it to be. Grandpa Tonio always did tell me to not only be kind to others, but to also be kind to yourself because in the end, all you have is yourself; your life to live. Despite having a loving father, my grandfather was the only father figure I really had for the first seven years of my life because my dad was in the U. S. working to support us back in Mexico. He taught me everything I would expect to have learned from my father. He loved me like his child, and I loved him like a father.
My grandfather lived a hard life and lacked a single complaint. He essentially shaped the man I have become today and helped me establish who I want to be. My grandfather has had the greatest impact in my life