Between The Miles - A Daughter's Perspective

The Family

     I get a little overwhelmed to write about the extended family of both my mother and father, but for this book, I'll focus on the nuclear family I grew up within. The members of the Miles family are interesting individually, and I could probably give several of them dedicated chapters in this book. For example, my grandfather was on the USS New Orleans that was docked in Pearl Harbor for engine repair the day the Japanese planes began bombing. The cranes that were positioned over his ship were what kept the airplanes from being able to bomb him that day. See, that story could be a chapter. Another example is my grandmother who never learned to drive, though she often told my grandfather how he was doing it wrong! I'm sure you see my struggle in how to get this started, but as everyone who does any reading knows, the best stories always start with a leading lady, and my father has the best one! 

     Mercedes de los Angeles Duran-Miles (more commonly known as, Angie) is my mother, and my parents have been married for over forty-seven years. She is a captivating woman from El Salvador with petite curves and amazing posture, who doesn't just light up a room, she brings the light. I think the first thing you'd notice about my mother is her radiant smile because she's a person who smiles from deep within herself. Her face beams, her eyes sparkle, and her body buzzes with energy. 

     My mother has naturally super-curly hair that she spends a lot of time taming into luscious waves of black silk. Her skin is a rich mocha-brown that incidentally, my father loves to touch. "She's so soft. My skin loves her skin," he's told me more than once. 

     My mom was born in San Vicente, El Salvador in 1953, the youngest of five children (three older boys and two younger girls). Her parents were living separately during most of their marriage and the three boys lived with their father and aunts in the capital city of San Salvador, while the two girls were raised by their mother in the smaller country town. I know very little of my grandparents' history together as a married couple, and back in my mother's childhood, people didn't talk about those things, especially when a Catholic married couple was separated.

     Many would say that my mother grew up dirt-poor, and it's true in her case, but I think it's also a matter of perspective. Their humble home had only two rooms with hanging light bulbs and no interior bathroom, yet my mother is full of joy when she tells stories of her childhood and being raised by her mother. No matter how little they had, I was told that my grandmother would share what she could when anyone came to her door in need. My Abuela supported herself and her daughters by making and selling THE BEST tortillas to the town, right from the front steps of her home. My mom said in the mornings, people in and around the town would send their maids to wait in line to buy the fresh tortillas that my Abuela made. From her earliest years, my mother learned and mastered the feel of masa between her palms. She knows the exact balance of masa-to-water to achieve the ideal thickness and ensure that each tortilla puffs up perfectly when cooked. My Abuela and her two daughters might have had very little money, but they were happy, and so very rich in love for each other. 

     At fourteen years old in 1968, my mother was granted a resident visa to live in the United States with her eldest brother, Gilbert, and his wife, Gladys, to go to school. She went to and graduated from Eagle Rock High School. It was originally thought that my mother would complete higher education in the United States and then be able to return to El Salvador and get a good job, to help make a better life for her family there. Tragically, within two years of my mother being in the United States, my Abuela died in El Salvador from diabetic complications. My mother had never known about diabetes and my Abuela never mentioned it. My mother's sister-in-law, Gladys, became a second mother and to this day, my mother remains devoted to Gilbert and Gladys for giving her a future here in the U.S.

     A week after graduating from high school, my mother got a secretarial job at an insurance company where my Tia Gladys worked. It was in the elevator of that work building where my father first saw and became intrigued by my stunningly beautiful mother. Here's a tidbit he's going to love that I share; He used to try and stand close enough behind her in the elevator to be able to smell her hair and perfume! When my father finally gathered enough courage to ask her out, he quickly found out that to spend any time with my mother, he would be spending time with her whole family in a constant rotation of chaperons. At first, my mother said they would just be friends and she intended to help him as much as she could while he completed his divorce and was struggling to be a part-time father to his young son, Heath.