Monday Rest
Tuesday 13.3 around Gaston MS
Wednesday 13.2 around Gaston MS
Thursday 13.2 around Gaston MS
Friday 13.3 around Gaston MS
Saturday 14.6 Norbuck 2 loops and back
Saturday 12.3 WR loop
Weekly Mileage 80.2
This week has made me think of my dad as today marks father day-Jose Juan Lopez Dominguez. My father is a hardworking man that came to Dallas when I was a baby. Originally from El Refugio, San Luis Potosi, Mexico he was one of 19 siblings from a family with little resources. El Refugio is 2 hours out from the nearest big city on dirt road. Difficult to get to with minimal resources, most families sustain themselves through ranching. Here is a google map of the location:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Villa+de+Ramos,+San+Luis+Potosi,+Mexico/@22.9047512,-102.1333741,10z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!1m7!3m6!1s0x85d6ebf9f5a333f5:0x360a18eccda3ce78!2sEl+Refugio,+San+Luis+Potosi,+Mexico!3b1!8m2!3d21.3347219!4d-98.758333!3m4!1s0x86819d0e45e3e9df:0x947548dc17e6eea!8m2!3d22.8274845!4d-101.9095276
Now the reason I bring the location up is because as a child living in such a rural place, you have to travel several KM to the Elementary school and that is what the majority of children got as far as education goes. My dad was fortunate enough to continue with school and despite all the obstacles such as living with a second aunt who was busy taking care of her own children and having to sell Chiclets to sustain, my dad was able to not only succeed academically but excel at it. Much like the story of slum dog millionaire my dad was able to graduate from Teacher's College in SLP and even pursued a Masters. He went on to teach English at the Secondary and Preparatory level. During the 80s Mexico's economy suffered great instability and the devaluation of the Peso. It was then that my dad made the difficult decision of coming to the United States in the era of the great migration.
He walked for 2 days in the desert from Piedras Negras through the Rio Grande and through the Desert until reaching there destination and from there being driven to Dallas. It was in Dallas, in which he began to work doing cement work on the roads and residential boom. When I was a child my brother, mom and myself made the journey up and we lived in what was then called 'little Mexico.'
As I grew up I didn't see my dad much as he spent most of the time working and I didn't really understand a lot of the social pressures to get ahead. Through the Amnesty of President Regan, my dad was able to apply for residency and through my dad's citizenship I became a US citizen as a teen.
As a teen at 13 I began working with my dad as he was a paint contractor and needed help cleaning, prepping and such. It was tough work but one of the things he taught me was that I could either stay in school or do hard manual labor.
As an adult and now as a dad myself I understand how much pressure immigrant families especially head of households have to provide for there family. As a counselor I also understand the issue that childhood trauma and coping with survival can have on molding a adult and how they parent and show affection.
On this day I just want to write about a complicated man, that even though he had all the odds against him he was able to persevere and succeed in a whole new country. This relates to running because it's an analogy to life and even with all the obstacles and different challenges running is a simple sport that one can succeed when hard work, consistency, and dedication are achieved. What seems like obstacles in my life I think are crumbs compared to some of the things my father has been through.
So on this fathers day I want to commemorate someone who continues to beat the odds and achieve great things even though there are many challenges that are both internal and external much like all complicated human beings, I want to share this post so that others can learn about a man I greatly admire and love-that man is my father. Happy father's day to all the wonderful fathers in the world :-).
How can I subscribe to your blog Jose? Thanks!
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