When there is a will, there is a way!

I was touched by what my cousin Norma said on social media: “Because I’ve lived long and well, I’ve cried many tears of sadness, frustration, joy, and laughter. Today, I was suddenly overwhelmed after I posted my last law school “discussion board” assignment. It finally hit me that I accomplished this thing!

 

I was a teen mom. I don’t talk about this often because many memories are painful or stressful. Darren and I brought Brandon home in an old car seat donated by the hospital. The first couple weeks Brandon slept on the floor in a dresser drawer because we didn’t yet have a proper baby bed. We had no phone, and our immediate families were thousands of miles away in South America. 

 

I couldn’t graduate high school that year because we could not afford child care for those last two months of my semester. All the statistics showed that Brandon had a great likelihood of becoming a felon, but instead he became a dentist.

 

Having a baby before graduating from high school meant that I had small odds of attaining a college degree, and even less odds for an advanced degree. To compound matters, Latinos are among the least represented in the legal profession. There are fewer than 5% Latin lawyers, even though Latins comprise about 18.5% of the U.S. population. And Latina lawyers comprise less than 2% of the bar. I’m now just weeks away from a Juris Doctor.

 

The point of this is not for you all to give me an “atta girl,” (so please don’t 

). Instead, I just want to express that we can all defy bad odds and statistics. Our less-intelligent choices don’t have to define us permanently.

I am so grateful for all of you who are a part of the fabric of my life. In big and small ways, I was blessed with people who were role models, and encouraged and helped me at all stages: family, friends, acquaintances, employers, co-workers, professors, strangers. I’ve known many of you for a long time, some since my childhood. Nobody ever questioned my ability to succeed in anything. Your belief in me gave me confidence to believe in myself. 

 

From the bottom of my heart: thank you.” 

 

She is so right, she believed she could do it and did! 

 

Con amor,

Vero

I love Proof

Selling a business that has been your baby for so long must be hard. Here is what Brooks wrote: “It's been a trip for the last 12+years at Proof Eyewear . Little did I know that this little eyewear brand that I started in my garage with a handful of skus and the help of some prize money from a business contest on the HuffPost, and grew with my brothers and the Proof Crew would one day become what it is today. 

From appearing on Shark Tank to magazine spreads to global sales to Beyonce and Snoop Dogg (and many other famous faces) wearing our shades. It’Prrof s been a journey. From day one before we sold a pair of sunglasses, we built into our values that we would give back. We wanted to create a business for good, this was before that trend was something many talked about in business. Truly, the most memorable experiences for me were our projects in different countries with friends old and new, giving back though eye camps, dental camps, community enhancement projects, education and eye surgeries with partners like HELP International and people like Eric Ballou and many others that were all made possible because someone bought a pair of glasses from Proof. That still blows my mind, that a simple purchase halfway across the world has affected someone's life in a small and in some cases major way. I remember one of our first eye camps after an older gentleman received an eye surgery after being legally blind for years saw his wife for the first time in a long time and said, "You are more beautiful than I even remembered". That moment and many more like it made our journey so much richer as a brand and company. Our community, staff and customers have always been a huge part of what made Proof such a unique brand and movement. 

It’s a bit bittersweet for me, but such is life sometimes, the season has come to focus on other things and see if someone else is interested in carrying on the mission of Proof so we are putting it up on the market for sale. If you know anyone that would be interested let us know.

Thank you,
Brooks” 

 

What a bittersweet moment in time. I love Proof and love those guys too! 

 

Con amor,

Vero

My stories

My mother has always been the storyteller in our family. Growing up, there were certain ones that became canon: the time she knew she needed to go to the nearest clinic because she was about to give birth or when she almost had a heart attack but by some miracle she ended up having open heart bypass surgery instead. And when I was a teenager, my mom was one of the first people from El Salvador who went to China, when China was starting to open its borders to tourists. Or when she started working for Casa Flores where she met my father. Over the years, I’ve thought a lot about that particular tale. What if my mom had decided to find work somewhere else? 

 

It’s also not just about sharing the happy parts of our lives. Especially now, as the world enters the third year of the pandemic, we need to be willing to open up about painful memories, because it shows our children that they are not alone in going through something hard. The knowledge that their relatives and ancestors also had difficult times — wars, depressions, natural disasters — and made it through them can give children confidence.

 

Parents who share stories about their childhood give children the knowledge that they are part of something bigger, and children who know more family stories may grow up with higher self-esteem and suffer less from depression and anxiety according to studies done on the subject. It can even help heal families who have faced trauma. But like any other skill, family storytelling is a muscle that needs to be built. 

 

Children learn to tell their stories by listening to how their parents, grandparents and older relatives tell theirs. Whenever there are moments of contact with family members — dinners, gatherings, car trips — those are opportunities for storytelling. Create moments in which storytelling is possible. It doesn’t happen in the midst of a busy day or when everyone’s scrolling through social media on their phones. I love to tell stories because stories are a way of preserving family history but more importantly -- this is the thing we often forget--they create resilience and a sense of continuity.  Telling family stories is powerful, but not always in the way you think, they build a framework to understand painful experiences and celebrate joyful ones. It requires some effort, perhaps even a family ritual and that is what I have become more passionate about lately. 

con amor,

Vero

 

 

I can't stand getting sick!

  

I knew when I went to bed Sunday night that I was in trouble. I had assumed that Ushuaia never gets freezing cold because it’s by the ocean. I was wrong! It was so cold that I didn’t really enjoy going out. It's at the end of the world. What was I thinking! 

 

It didn’t help that I was not getting enough sleep at all either. I sometimes have a hard time sleeping at hotels. After seeing off the last of our employees that had come to the director’s seminar and getting our bags from the airport which was a miracle because the bag people were on strike that day, I finally went to bed. 

 

Sunday I felt ok but Monday is when it hit me. I felt sick as a dog. My body was about to yell “payback!” for all the extreme cold I had put my body to suffer unnecessarily if I just had taken a heavy coat and not a rain jacket. Why did I think a rain spring rain jacket would be enough?  I’ll never know. Live and learn! Maybe it was because that is what I took when I went in December but April is not Summer anymore. 

 

I woke up so sick Monday morning with a bad sore throat. it wasn’t even funny and I instantly knew. So for the past three days, I have been rolled up in my bed with no energy to do anything. I took a day Nyquil pill and drank a gallon of water and plenty of vitamin C and at night I took a night Nyquil and that put me to sleep instantly. The last time I was this sick was in December of 2019. 

 

Tuesday, I did a repeat taking more Nyquil pills but today when the cold got to my chest is when I started taking Prednisone which always does the trick. Is heavy medication, I hate it but I do need it this time or the cough will continue for weeks and at that point I usually have to get antibiotics anyway and that is no fun at all! 

 

I can’t stand getting sick because I feel like a caged animal when I am sick in bed and all I can do is think of everything I should be getting done but can’t. Being sick is something I just don’t have time for!

 

I was feeling a little sorry for myself until my neighbor friend brought me a box of chocolates and this quote translated to English reads: 

 

“Being sick is just your body’s way of saying you’re way too awesome and you need to slow down so everyone else can catch up.”

 

I love people who find a way to make us feel good when we are feeling down. That and today I love my bottle of Prednisone. I am going to take my pill right now and try to get back to sleep…which means I need to stop typing this blog and put the laptop away…because I have a feeling that blogging and Prednisone just won’t mix…

 

Here’s hoping for good health tomorrow!

 

Con amor,

Vero

I am a grandma again!

Maya Lee Morrison was born this day, April 26, 2022 at 9:44 a.m. In Salt Lake City to Mandy and Spencer Morrison. She had gone the day before to get a pre-natal massage and when she was paying for the massage is when she felt something wet but thought nothing of it. She went to lunch with her friend but as she spent those extra two hours she knew this time the wetness was continuing when she called the doctor, she immediately told her to get to the LDS hospital to get checked. She was hoping that it was a false alarm the way she had experienced before but this time it was the real deal. 

 

They induced her the next day and as she was starting to push the nurses and the doctor were in a panic mode because the heart beat was diminishing the doctor was about to use a vacuum when little Maya made her debut. She is beautiful. She is a tiny little thing just 5 lbs. 4 oz. and because she is low weight, they will keep her an extra day to check up on her. So far, she is a healthy, happy and very hungry baby. Apparently, there was an issue with Mandy’s placenta and the umbilical cord that made it hard for the baby to get the proper nourishment so it was a good thing that she was born two weeks early. If the baby had not come on its own, they were going to do a C -section on May 4^th. The day I will be arriving. 

 

I couldn’t go earlier because I got the worst cold and want to feel good before I travel. People hear you coughing and they think you got COVID I am glad that she has family and great friends that will be there to help since she thought she had more time to prepare. Every baby birth has a story and that was Maya’s. 

 

Motherhood is such a privilege denied to so many. What a blessing that our baby girl has her own baby and for that I am so grateful! 

 

Con amor,

Vero

Loved by those who knew him

Over the past two years there have been many of us who have dealt with tragedy and loss due to the pandemic. I have been thinking lately about my uncle Franklin gone too soon. Some have shared their losses openly with those around us; some have shared their stories of loss with their friends and their coworkers; and some have kept their situations private and coped with it on their own.  Regardless of how we have dealt with it, most all of us have had to go through the loss of loved ones and dealt with tragedy in our life, and with the death of a prominent Senator, Orrin Hatch, it certainly brings those losses to the front of our minds with great soberness. He is one that helped me find solutions to taught immigration cases when I served as the Honorary Consul of El Salvador in Utah. 

 

But today I was most grateful for the reminder of the importance of a community – it was a reminder that we should all reach out to those around us who may be struggling with loss or hard times in their lives.  Senator Hatch was known to help the community around him. We live or should live in a community that has the ability to support one another, to comfort one another, to lift one another up and help each other on our way.  We have the ability to truly touch one another’s lives for the better here.  We should never let that opportunity pass us by.  We should remember to look out for one another.  We should be caring citizens in our communities that we are blessed to be a part of and Senator Hatch was an example of a caring citizen who went over and beyond the call of duty. 

 

When my uncle died, I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of support that people showed our family.  The kind words, the poems, the smiles, the hugs, and people’s willingness to let the family deal with our feelings when his death was announced and the comments of support that followed from so many.  I cannot even describe how much that support meant to me and my family at that time.  I had never dealt with any kind of loss at that level since my father passed away almost two decades ago. I can honestly say that the people that supported our family made a huge impact in my ability to go forward and do the same for someone who is grieving. 

 

We live in a community of great people who showed kindness toward us. So, I know the power that exists amongst the people in our communities at work or in our neighborhoods or in our religious groups no matter our political views. It’s sad when some can’t see past their own political agendas and only criticize what the diseased did do or not do. We will all experience death someday. There is power when a community bands together to watch out for each other.  It is something we all need to remember to do for each other.

 

All of us can impact one another’s lives for the better.  All of us can leave a legacy of love to everyone who ever steps into our community.  That community should include everyone from family, to neighbors, to coworkers, to clients, to vendors, and anyone else our paths cross throughout our day.  Let’s all commit to be there to support one another as best we can through loving words, smiles, encouragement, nice hand written notes, small gestures, whatever we can do to help each other get through the hard times in our lives and the death of a loved one tops them all. 

 

R.I.P. Senator Hatch! 

 

Con amor,

Veronica 

Do What Matters Most

Why re-invent the wheel when I can share from Work and Wonder!  Sunday April 24, 2022 Do what matters most  By Rebeca Craven   Hi friend,   Most of us have heard the quote, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Well, here's my question then…what does it take for good to triumph in our lives?   I would venture to say it's a lot more simple than we think….   I believe if all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing…then all that is needed for the triumph of good is that each of us do SOMETHING.   Not everything. And certainly not everything perfectly.   As Sister Craven shared, “It’s not about doing life perfectly—it’s about finding joy while doing our best to live the covenants we have made with the Lord.”   But too often, I think we want to over complicate it. Somewhere along the way we convinced ourselves that only the grand, flawless, and never-missed-a-day efforts counted for something. So even with the best intentions to do good, understand more, or grow closer to Him, we can become paralyzed with what we believe our efforts should look like, and not even try at all for fear of falling short.   “If you want to know anything, you will have to do something. Conversion won’t come while doing nothing. It comes through the power of the Holy Ghost as we intentionally make an effort to know by asking, seeking, and knocking. It comes by doing.”   His is not a gospel of all or nothing, but a gospel of all or something. A gospel of small, daily, genuine efforts through which He graciously and lovingly makes up for all that we lack.   And if we take it even one step further by ensuring our efforts are in those areas that truly matter most, we avoid the lure of the adversary to distract us with things that actually don't carry as much importance when we pause to look a the bigger picture.    "It takes effort to stay focused on what is truly essential for lasting joy. Satan would love nothing more than for us to misplace our eternal values, leading us to waste precious time, talents, or spiritual strength on things that matter not. I invite each of us to prayerfully consider those things that distract us from doing what mattereth most."   Don't forget, not everyday of doing something will lead to grand ah-ha moments, warm fuzzies of knowing you made difference, or a cheering section to keep you going. Sometimes we don't see the effects of our efforts right away. On those days, remember that no amount of effort goes unnoticed by He who numbered the sand and the stars. He has never stopped, and will never stop, cheering you on.   Give Him your all, even something each day, and He will give you everything.   Invitation:   Ponder your latest good intentions. Try not to get discourage by what you haven't done, but see them as a great place to start because it shows our hearts have the desire to be a little better. Write them down, then write down what you can do to meet those intentions with action. Get specific, even when and where you will show forth the action and effort—your daily something to show the Lord your commitment and desire for a covenant relationship with Him.

Affirmation  I let God prevail in my life by doing something every day to seek Him. I let go of perfection and navigate the distractions as I strive to spend my efforts on what truly matters most.