Page 36 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2019- Online Magazine

HONORING SENIORS
2 2
Senior Senior
hen I was given the
opportunity to write
Wabout someone who
influenced me, the answer was easy:
my grandmother, Emma Benavides
Coronado (otherwise known as
Mama). Since my parents worked
long hours, I spent most of my
childhood with Mama. We attended
lots of church meetings and mass.
“Our” friends were gossiping
60-something women who spoke
Spanish, laughed loudly, drank
a lot of coffee and nibbled daily
on their shared potluck lunches.
Like most Hispanic grandmothers,
Mama cooked large Mexican
meals, watched her telenovelas
(soap operas), and babysat her
grandchildren with plenty of rules
and a lot of love, always making
sure we were well taken care of.
Mama was supposed to be enjoying
her retirement, but my father’s
job was relocated six hours away,
and my mother’s job required her
to work up to ten hours a day. So,
Mama stepped in to babysit and
soon became my best friend. She
made lots of sacrifices for me, my
sister and my cousins and taught
me a multitude of valuable lessons.
Three really stand out:
36 Lubbock Senior Link
Emma Benavides Coronado
Mama’s Lessons
by Amanda Harvey
The first one is the importance of
having God in my life and always
having him come first. Every
morning, Mama starts her day
with prayer, and the last thing
she does before she closes her
eyes and goes to sleep is to pray.
She teaches others about the love
of God, starting with her family.
Because of this, I knew the sign of
the cross before I knew my ABC’s.
Every week, I accompanied Mama
to church. I’d sit next to her in the
pews and watch her become her
purest self. She focused on one thing
only: worshipping God. It was in
those moments that I really began
to appreciate all Mama has done for
me. By bringing me closer to God to make her children’s lives easier
each week, my grandmother also by caring for their kids while they
brought me closer to her. Our love work. Each day, she ensures that
for God became something we had we are fed, sometimes even doing
in common. our laundry. Although she only
attended school to the 6th grade, she
The second lesson that Mama always looks over our homework. It
emphasized was to always make was only recently that she confessed
time for family. My grandmother that she didn’t really know if our
has demonstrated the importance homework was even correct, but
of family through the love that she checks it anyway. Mama has
she shows each of her children, always been our biggest supporter.
grandchildren and great- Even at the age of 78, she is always
grandchildren. Mama shows this front and center at every event,
love through countless acts of making sure we hear her cheers as
kindness, and these acts don’t go we are receiving awards, walking
unnoticed. She is constantly trying