Felipe Cisneros by Paola Yasmin Romero

Childhood Stage

pyromero — 2025-02-10 03:57:43 UTC

As a child, I was one of the younger kids from a very poor family living in Michoacan, Mexico. And, as my dad left us with my mom when we were very little, my older brother took the paper of being the dad and started to work to help my mom support our family. I was a very happy kid and I have a lot of stories with the rest of my brothers and sisters. I remember going to the river, which was close to my house, and playing with all my brothers. I remember the day that I learned how to swim in that river. I went with my older brother and he just threw me into the water when I was between 6 and 7 years approximately. He said that it was the way that he learned and that it was how everyone was supposed to learn, but I was really scared and thought that I was going to drown in the river. But suddenly, I started to float, and little by little my brother helped me learn how to move in the water.

First work experience

pyromero — 2025-02-10 04:10:07 UTC

When I was very little, I started to see how our family struggled to buy food and fulfill our basic needs, and I wanted to help. I was 8 years old when I started to work in the ranches around my house. There were people owning ranches that hired kids and paid the work to their parents. I used to wake up at 4:00 am to go with people around my house and ask to help with their ranches, that way I could go to 2 even sometimes 3 ranches to help. I used to clean the animal pens, and garden, and feed their animals. After some years of helping with those works, I started to fix shoes I used to walk around the town with a box with my things to fix shoes, and I asked people if they needed to fix their shoes or clean them.

Her first and only love

pyromero — 2025-02-10 04:52:32 UTC

When I was 14 years old, I moved to a small town in Sinaloa with one of my brothers, and I worked fixing and cleaning shoes in the streets as well. I started to notice that when I used to go to work at 4 am, there was a girl who drew water from a well close to the road I used to walk through every day. I started to like her and as days passed I gathered enough courage and asked her what was her name. Her name was Candelaria, and since that day, I started to walk her back to her house every day. We talked just a little bit because her parents used to not allow her to go out of the house or receive visitors. So, one day I told her that I used to come back from work at 8:00 pm and that I wanted to talk to her through the fence of her house. The fence of her house was made out of metal and there was just a small square through which I could only see her eyes. Her father used to get back home at 9:00 pm and her mom used to sell tortillas around town in the afternoon and she came back at 9:00 pm as well. We used to talk a little bit through that fence for less than an hour and I remember that every day I went back to my house full of happiness. I fell in love with her and when I was 15, we ran away together.

Creating a Family

pyromero — 2025-02-10 05:06:48 UTC

After we ran away, we moved to Mexico City in the center of Mexico. I got a job as a police officer and that's how I support our little family for something about 4 years. In the first year that we were together, in 1958, my wife got pregnant. We didn't know about it and she got a miscarriage of twins. There was a boy and a girl, it was a devastating event for both of us. After one more year which was in 1959, Cande got pregnant again with our first son. We called him Reynaldo and the moment that we got him, I remember it as one of the most fulfilling and precious moments of my entire life. Shortly after, we got married and after one more year, we got pregnant again with a beautiful girl. We named her Rosa, and after those events, we started to struggle more with money. We were a very poor family as well and I saw the need of moving again to search for more opportunities.

Moving to the North

pyromero — 2025-02-10 05:21:23 UTC

We moved to Guamuchil, Sinaloa. Since I was living in Mexico city, I started constructing a house in Sinaloa and got it done before moving. We lived in that house until 1970 and all of that time I worked cultivating and burning cane to make cane sugar. During all of those years, we got 6 more beautiful kids. We had 5 boys and 3 girls (one of them being my mom). I used to work from 4:00 am until 7-8 pm and it was a very heavy job. I remember going back home very tired and dirty every day but seeing all my kids running to my arms and hugging me was the most fulfilling emotion that I have ever felt. They made all my fatigue go away and reminded me that all the things that I was doing were worth it. I have always been very ambitious in a good way, because I always wanted to have better things and give the best to my family, and that was what made me move more to the north part of Mexico. We moved to Caborca, Sonora where the older of my kids wanted to work with me to help our family. We started working cultivating and watering grapes. I remember waking up at 3:00 am and waking up all my kids for them to go with me.

Working in the United States

pyromero — 2025-02-10 05:37:47 UTC

After something about 10 years of working with grapes, I started thinking about the American dream which was a common thing to aspire to living in the North. I talked with my wife and we agreed that I was going to live in the north to make money and send it to support my family. My wife used to sell handmade tortillas and almost all of my kids were already working cultivating grapes and they got really good at it. I saw the opportunity to migrate to the United States and I took it. I immigrated to the United Stated as an illegal person in 1982. I crossed through the desert with a group of people and it was one of the hardest things that happened to me. A lot of people died on the way, I got a lot of foot sores and skin burns, and I got dehydrated and malnourished. When we finally crossed, there was a van waiting for us and it took us to Indio, California. I started cultivating jalapenos and fixing shoes for people around the place I lived in and for the ones working with me. I used to send almost all my money to my wife and family in Mexico, I remember just keeping enough money to pay for rent, food, and 10 extra dollars for me. I used to get back to that house very tired and empty because all my family was away from me.

Working in the United States

pyromero — 2025-02-10 05:50:17 UTC

He could not take it anymore, and he moved back to Caborca with all his family. They moved again to a small town in the Mexicali Valley in Baja California called Ejido Hermosillo (where they live to this day). We got two more beautiful kids when living in Caborca and one in the Ejido Hermosillo. There was a boy and a girl. We ended up with 10 kids in total, 6 boys and 4 girls. I started to process work permits to start working legally in the United States and be able to go back home with my family. And as this small town is about 20 minutes from San Luis, Arizona it was the perfect option for me. We started to get a better income level and I remember working cultivating lettuce, broccoli, cilantro, and even Sandia and melon.

60+ years of marriage celebration

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:02:33 UTC

In 2021, all of my kids, now grown-ups and with their own families decided to all get together and organize a marriage for me and my wife. We had been together for over 60 years by then, and they had been the best years of my life. I still love her since day one and I am really thankful for all that she has done for me, and the family that we formed. We had an amazing celebration, and I remember her being very beautiful that day.

From my view (Paola Y Romero): It was a beautiful day, my grandfather even cried when my grandma was walking down the island. It was one of the sweetest moments I have appreciated.

A bitter experience

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:14:19 UTC

Unfortunately, in 2022 my wife got two heart attacks and got sent to the hospital. She stayed there for over 2 weeks. I remember that day being one of the saddest and most worrying of my life. When my youngest son took her to the hospital, I asked to go with them and when the doctor told us that she had to translate her to a bigger hospital in Mexicali, I broke down. I remember thinking that it was a very serious thing, and instantly after, they were taking my wife out of the hospital very urgently. My son took me to Mexicali to go with my wife and as soon as we got there, we asked the receptionist about her and she told us that she had a heart attack before being translated and another one in the ambulance on the way to Mexicali. Instantly I thought the worst and honestly, I thought that I lost her. After about 3 hours, the doctor talked to us and said that she was delicate but stable. After some weeks of being hospitalized, she was able to go back home but she was not able to walk or eat by herself, and she needed help to take showers and go to the restroom. I helped her all of the time and all of my daughters were taking care of her as well. I never left her alone and after a long process, she started to do things by herself.

My grandfather

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:19:02 UTC

Felipe's 83 birthday

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:24:36 UTC

Their entire family by 2024

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:25:51 UTC

This picture we took at my birthday celebration. There we see my wife and almost all of my sons and daughters. There was one of my sons missing because he lives in Phoenix and he was not able to come. But I was very happy to have the majority of my family members with me. I have more than 40 grandchildren and I have 5 grand grandchildren.

Advices

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:32:09 UTC

Something that I recommend to this generation is to do the right thing even if it seems like something hard to do. I have never betrayed my wife, I have never had a critical disease, I have never had an addiction to any drug, and I have never taken the wrong way to get money even though I have gone through very hard situations.

Also, love with all your heart, there is nothing more satisfactory as aging with the love of your life.

Lastly, take your time to do things, there is always a different timing for all people and do not compare yourself to others.

View of Society

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:38:00 UTC

To this day, I have always heard that generations have been getting worse and worse but I don't think so. When I was little, I remember that women were very repressed and I have never contributed to that. I remember that when my dad lived with us, he used to hit my mother and when he left, we felt a lot of relief. Now that I see women speaking up, getting jobs, and even people in general protesting and doing things that we used to just let happen is something that I see as an act of bravery. On the other hand, I see that there are also a lot of young people getting lost in addictions, and that is something very sad. I would always recommend not trying anything drug-related. When I was out with my kids and if we saw someone homeless, that seemed to be on drugs, I used to say "See yourself in that mirror".

Most important advise

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:40:00 UTC

Work for what you want and never give up. Be ambitious and always value what you have. I have always wanted to have good things for my kids but as I aged, I started to see that the love of my family and the time with them was more valuable than all the money I could earn. Appreciate the people around you and always be thankful for everything, the good and even the bad things.

pyromero — 2025-02-10 06:44:16 UTC

To this day, he sings this song to his wife.