No Looking Back: One Mother´s Huge Sacrifice
When moving to another country in search of opportunity, we inevitably leave things behind: memories, jobs, the people we love. When Blanca received the opportunity to pursue a better life in Jackson, she was forced to make the toughest decision of her life: leaving her two children in Mexico to pursue a more stable life in Jackson, Wyoming.
One of the hardest things was when I came I worked as a babysitter and I was reading and playing with these kids, missing my own children like you have no idea. That was the hardest time of my life. At the end everything worked out and I brought them with me, it was worth it, but it was very hard.
Blanca always knew she would become a mom. When she found out she was pregnant what surprised her more was that she decided to raise her child on her own. It was her first born, Irving, gave her the strength to do so.
"I didn’t want to get married. I wanted to stay in school and keep working and he gave me the power to do that, knowing it was he and I. I discovered whom I really was when he was born. He made me powerful, responsible, happy and more human."
Today both of Blanca´s children have left Jackson to pursue their own lives. But whenever they’re in town she tries to spend as much time with them as she can.
"My daughter sleeps in my bed and always makes me laugh, even when I’m having a crisis. And Irving is the sweetest guy I´ve ever met. We walk the streets of Jackson holding hands. He kisses me and hugs me and I love that about my son. People look at us like: Oh, she´s a cougar, but no, he´s my son!"
Blanca knows parenting is tough. That is why she dedicates her time helping other mothers and families raise their own children. She works as a parent educator for Head Start at the Children´s Learning Center, a program that provides support to families with preschool-age children who live at or below the poverty level in Jackson Hole.
She also joined Cuenta Conmigo with her kids and enjoyed partaking in a program that allowed parents like her to look at life from different points of view.
I don’t think we had a program that could unite parents and their children, as well as improve the communication between them. I have a good relationship with my kids, but I could tell they also needed other people who they could count on and spend time with and for that I am very grateful for Cuenta.
A perfect Mother´s Day for her would be a full day spent with her own mother and grandmother.
