Cecilia, Magali, Jennifer, and Mariana. These are the names of my sisters in order from oldest to youngest. Cecy being the oldest and Mariana the youngest. The two oldest sisters were born in Mexico and Mariana and I in Chicago. None of us have the same dad or had our dads in our lives except for Mariana and Magali. My mom got married to Magali’s dad in Mexico and they both came to the US, but Cecy and Magali were taken care of by my aunts and grandma in Mexico until they were able to find a way to get my sisters to the US. Coming into the US as an immigrant is a difficult process to go through. Since Magali was a baby they had to bring her on an airplane with another girl's identity. Cecy came on a bus with my grandma, also using another person's name. Once they were situated in Chicago, my mom and Magali’s dad had issues, and since her dad was already in trouble with the cops because my mom turned him in for abuse. Fast forward and my mom met my dad at a club, and he left once he found out my mom was pregnant. She was basically a single mother, and if you think about it, raising three girls on your own isn’t easy. My mom had a truck and she would collect heavy junk in her trunk and go to the junkyard to get money out of it. Her truck would get weighed and based on the weight they would pay her. But at the same time my mom had a drinking problem. She would drink most of the time when she was working, always making sure she had a six pack. My oldest sister and my mom had a lot of arguments because one day my mom found out Cecy was seeing a guy ten years older than her and Cecy was 14 at the time. She ended up getting pregnant with my nephew Jerry. Cecy then moved out and it was only Magali, my mom, and me. My mom had Mariana in 2015. Mariana was born with fetal-alcohol syndrome since my mom drank a lot while she was pregnant. After Mariana was born my mom started drinking more than usual; there would be times when she wouldn’t even show up home and would have us worried. One day in the summer I had slept over at my cousin’s house, and the morning after we headed over to my other aunt's house which was only a block away. We went to help out with some stuff she needed help preparing for a block party. People had then started to show up and the rest of the block was ready too. As time went by my mom showed up because she was supposed to pick me up to go home. Instead of doing that she got there with my little sister Mariana, which at the time she was only two, and with her workers that were not sober either. My aunts noticed that and were trying to get my mom to stay because she had just come by to drop off my little sister for me to take care of. Her plan was to go back to work but my family knew my mom wasn’t in her right mind. My mom ended up leaving, and before Cecy had moved out she told me to call in case of an emergency. I called my sister and she said  she was on the way. When Cecy got there she was mad at my mom because it wasn’t the first time she did something like this. After that entire situation Cecy decided to have us live with her till my mom became sober. After a week had passed my mom called the cops on my sister because she didn’t want us to go back with my mom. DCFS then got involved as well. My sister ended up fostering all three of us. Social workers showed up twice a month and they provided money too. It was a big change. I had to transfer schools. I went from south to north. There was a point where taking care of Mariana became difficult for my sister since she had a baby of her own as well, which was Matteo. Mariana ended up going to a different foster home, we would still get to see her though not as much as we wished we would though if Ima be honest. There was a restraining order against my mom that she couldn’t come near me and my sisters. When we did get to see my mom the social worker had to be there. As my mom tried sobering up she was slowly getting sick. Her body was so used to the alcohol that it was rejecting treatment. Eventually her stomach developed some hernias which basically made her stomach grow and that just kinda weakened her. When the time came to get the surgery done it was too late because the hernias had turned into blood. The doctors said they couldn’t do the surgery because her stomach was filled up with blood. Doctors told my mom that she had about half a year left. Hearing that news that made us closer with our mom and family again. Magali and I would take turns taking care of my mom. My mom had just kept getting weaker and weaker. Since my mom didn’t have that much time left the case changed and it turned into Mariana’s dad wanting custody for her. Cecy was then able to adopt me legally. Magali was about to turn 18 so there was no need for Cecy to adopt her. My mom passed away in July 2020. In a way I'm glad her suffering came to an end. I feel like my mom’s passing made my family come closer again just celebrating her. Mariana’s dad ended up getting full custody for Mariana and they moved to New Mexico with his side of the family. Even though my mother wasn’t perfect, that doesn’t take away from all the good memories we had with her. 

Jennifer Bustos