TRANSCRIPTION
What are your earliest childhood memories?
My earliest childhood memories would be when my dad, 'cause my mom and dad were divorced, my dad picked us up and took us to the beach, and you know how you can walk on that... what is it called... a pier? Okay, and he tells me not to fall, I mean, c'mon, so what is the first thing that I would do? I fell. So he had to jump in the water, get me out, and we had to leave 'cause I fell in the water, I didn't listen. Hey, that thing was slippery! [Laughs] He shouldn't have taken us there, I was little. I didn't know how to swim. I mean I didn't plan on falling, I just fell.
What were your parents like?
My dad was very quiet, I didn't really know him all that well. If he talked to me it was just because he was gonna tell me somethin' or that was it. I really don't... didn't know my dad. I wasn't raised by him. My mom... oh, my mom, she was... she was great she would go with the flow, open minded, hard worker, you know raised us the best she could. How else could I describe my mom... She never judged anybody. She always gave good advice, words of wisdom. And they still to this day are tattooed in my head. 'Cause it's like, sometimes I don't wanna do somethin' and mom's there telling me I need to do this. And it's been already over twenty... twenty-two years that she passed away. And she was seventy-seven when she went to heaven, do to cancer and uh, but she raised us good. She had good morals, good values. She always said stay together, our siblings, to never lose touch, and we've done that. But she was great, she was a good mom.
What did you do for fun when you were younger?
Oh, for fun? My brother always had us very busy. We never slept late. If we slept late, it was eight o'clock. That was late and oh my gosh that was heaven. So, he would take us swimming, he would take us bowling, he would take us to play tennis, even though we didn't know how to, we were there. Whatever was free, we were there. And we were always busy. You know, first you clean the house, make sure everything's clean. I never cooked, just eat and clean up everything, and then we were gone. And of course, I mean school, you know, but that wasn't fun. Or I didn't think it was anyway. But yeah, mainly swimming, is what we did. During winter, we'd go play in the snow in the mountains and uh, I think it's called Mount Charleston in Las Vegas, and we'd go up there. And normal people, rich people, would have sleds or have some kind of thing to go down the mountain, right? Well, we would have a lid of a trash can and we'd go down, or we would find something. Whatever we could find, there we went. So, I mean my brother always improvised, we always had fun. We improvised no matter what. So yeah, he was crazy. And I used to hate that word, "improvise." And I would tell him, "why do we have to improvise all the time?" He's like, "well, it's just part of life..." And we traveled a lot. We used to travel a lot. And that's it, once I married grandpa that was the end of swimming, traveling, all that. [laughs]
What was it like living in Las Vegas?
Living in Vegas, well since I was young, it's just like living in any other town like in San Antonio. But it wasn't as big as it is now. We were allowed to go walk down there and go down the strip, or go down uh, the frontier. Of course now it's not a street, they made it to where people can just walk. There used to be a street and cars would go by and we'd walk one side then go around and walk on the other side. Well now it's open. They closed down the street and made it to where people could just walk wherever they wanna go. But yeah that's all we did was walk, walk, walk, that's why I was so skinny! [laughs] Maybe I should go back to Vegas, and walk, walk, walk! But living in Vegas was just like living in San Antonio, I dunno. I was too young to gamble, but I'd go in there and look for my mom and they'd get us out!
How did you meet grandpa, and how old were you?
I was fifteen. And I met him through a friend, his friend. Uh, and uh, so he came over to meet us. To my house, and uh, he was there I dunno thirty minutes or so. So I didn't really think much of grandpa then. You know, I thought he was a white guy and I did not know he had curlys, 'cause his hair was so short. And, I guess grandpa didn't like me either because he didn't... We just talked on the phone. But then we ran into each other, 'cause my niece dragged me to a dance 'cause she wanted to go. And grandpa was there and from that day on it was history. He would be over at the house every other day, 'cause he had to work every other day. And, uh, he would come like around three o'clock or so and he was supposed to leave by midnight but he would always miss the bus. And my brother would be so mad because then he had to drive him back to the base. He would be, "Diana, I already told you, Griego comes at three o'clock, I go to work at two-thirty, Griego's here, I come back, Griego's still here!" That's how we called him was, "Griego." And he says, "he can't be here that long." And I would be, "Well, there's nothing else to do, we're just watching T.V." I dunno, my niece was always there, we were always being chaperoned. But yeah, that's all we did just come over and once in a while we would eat out at whatever restaurant it was back then. Fast food. But yeah, that's how I met grandpa. At the age of fifteen, and I still was fifteen when I married him. I only knew him six months and we got married. Forty-six years now. Your heart has a way of telling you who the right one is if you pay attention. But if you don't, you're gonna miss the boat. So, be careful. Don't let your head do the thinking, let your heart tell you. 'Cause your head will tell you, "oh I like him 'cause he's handsome, or this one 'cause he's tall, or this one 'cause he's white!" I guess life is crazy, I don't know.
Were there any obstacles you had to overcome?
Obstacles mainly were financial. It was hard because back then you didn't earn that much money and uh, we had five kids, and it was hard to, to buy groceries to feed 'em, and buy the clothes. It's a good thing we didn't have to pay rent because otherwise, I don't know where we'd be. Nevertheless, just with the light bill, gas bill. Finally, we didn't have a phone, it took us many years to get a phone 'cause we were so far away from the lines. I don't know when it was when we first got a phone... maybe in the eighties? 'Cause I would go to the payphone to call my mom every Saturday or Sunday. Once I got married I called my mom weekly, every Saturday or Sunday, and if I didn't call by Monday, I think she would send the SWAT team.
What was it like raising five children?
It was hard, but I loved it. I loved it because everybody would leave by seven o'clock, all running, "the bus is coming, the bus is coming! Hurry up!" And so as soon as they left I started cleaning. I started cleaning the kitchen and fixing the beds and doing the laundry whatever. It took me all day. They would come home at three-thirty or so and I would take a nap 'cause they would show cartoons only thirty minutes, back when your mom was little. As soon as they came, I hit the pillow, I had the snacks ready. Then I fell asleep, dead to the world. Next thing I knew, "Mom, mom, cartoons are over." Okay, I had my energy and would start supper or homework or baths and then the day was over. And the next day the same thing. But yes, I did enjoy each and every one of my kids. They helped me. I don't know what I cleaned over and over and over, but I did. It was hard to raise five kids. I was over protective, I know. I wish I hadn't been. But I didn't know better. I just didn't want them getting hurt.
How old were you when you received your GED?
Okay, I got my GED probably... hmm... 1992 or so? So that would make me... sixty, seventy, eighty, forty! I was forty. By that time, everybody was in school so I thought I could do something for myself now. So I got my GED at the age of forty. And I started... I went to Palo Alto. I must have gone total maybe four semesters... I never went to high school, so I knew nothing about algebra. I'm like, "I can't even add numbers, and they want me to add letters?" I don't know, somehow I managed to pass it anyway to get to the level that I needed to be in to go to UT and be a dental assistant. It was 1995 when I finally finished. I just needed one year, and then your aunt Melinda divorced and came to live with me, and I just couldn't... I couldn't do it. I couldn't study, you know 'cause there was back to the same thing of all that work, so I didn't go. And, uh, you know, I guess I wish I had. I would be retired by now. Twenty something years. So, it wasn't meant to be. I sometimes wish I had, but I can't live on, "Oh, I wish I had," no, it wasn't meant to be for some reason. And now I have grandpa. Well, I've always had grandpa, but he was always "kids come first" and now he's just a big ol' baby. I'm glad he makes his own coffee 'cause I never learned. Married forty-six years, you can put it on there, grandma does not know how to make coffee! And since I didn't like it anyway, I didn't care how it came out. Weak, strong, who cares. Grandma bad!
You've lived in the same house for forty-three years. How have things changed around here?
It's the next generation after your great-grandparents that are living here. All these are first cousins. Their parents, they were grandmas siblings all that lived here, so now it's their kids that are living here. 'Cause that generation already passed away. Now we're the next generation, and I don't know who's gonna live here after this generation goes. There's a lot of, I mean really, the whole town, there's just a lot of houses. And in Pleasanton, forget it it's just traffic and the oil and all that. I mean you have to be careful. You have to pay attention to your driving. Back then it wasn't that many people and now we have a lot. But uh, we have a traffic light, we have stop signs. We never had that. We have the fire department, we've always had that little church. Basically, it's pretty much the same, just doubled in population, maybe tripled.
How have women's roles changed over the years?
Well, all of us were stay-at-home mom's, then it got to where women started working. We had the kids, we had to take care of the kids, nobody else. Nobody was to raise our kids and have their morals and values. They had to be our ways. It never worked out, I did try working. But now the couple has to work because everything is too expensive, or they want too much. It's expensive, and the husband can afford to support the family, but they want the extra. They want the vacation, they want the nice clothes and they want the nice cars and all the other stuff. So, in order to have that you have to have two incomes. So, what's changed of women, is now they are all working and now really the husbands have to listen to the wives. Bottom line. Husbands have to help. They have to bathe the kids, they have to cook, they have to clean. It was I did the inside, grandpa did the outside. No, now it's a fifty-fifty thing. That's what I see different. Women are more outspoken, more... I mean, you know how we are.
How would you say your life is different from your moms?
Well, my mom was pretty... well, my mom would drive. She was one of the more modern ones. She could speak English and read and write, and she would work because she had us. And back then it was even less money, so it was even harder. She always had to pay rent, and rent a house. So, the difference in my mom and me... I don't know... Well, I know I like to dress nice and my mom did not like clothes. She was little and everything, and she would buy everything big, I'm like, "Mother, you do not wear no size twelve or fourteen when you're a size eight!" So, yeah. My mom was simple. She did not like material things. She had what she needed. Other than that, she did not have it, did not want it. If I would buy her something, even for her birthday, if she really didn't need it, she'd give it away. That's the only difference is that my mom was not a materialistic person.
Do you have anything to add to this interview?
Hmm... I don't regret that I got married young. I don't feel that I missed out on anything, because I don't know what's out there. And who knows if it's good or bad. You know, I'm happy with the decisions that I've made.
