My Life in Argentina and Beyond

Today would have been my mother’s birthday. My mother, whose theme song was the beautiful tango Malena sung by a 1940s singer named Fiorentino. And who lost her mother, her best friend, in March 1940 and never got over her death. My grandmother Ana became a single mother at 31 after my grandfather Manuel Canale suddenly died at the age of 35. My Tia told me that she, Esther, was my father’s pet and my mother my grandmother’s. Although she had several chances to remarry, my grandmother chose not to. She was afraid her girls would be sexually molested by their stepfather—something that can often happen even in the best of families. My grandmother Ana was not helped by her late husband’s well-to-do family (or her own). They, my mother, my Tia and Ana, were like a female version of the 3 Musketeers. Ana earned their living by sewing and my mother and Tia became little maids to their stockbroker uncles. My mother survived her mother’s death by over 54 years. She never forgot her, although she loved other people, one of whom was my brother Alex. I know they are finally together up there in Heaven.

December 25, 2007: The couch she used to rest on is probably gone by now. The storage people have auctioned it off. I can still see her, with her legs stretched out. Her dark brown eyes looked up at me as she held her coffee mug in her right hand. We would spend time together in the middle of the night and just talk. Talk about anything because both of us were very lonely. It was a brown and yellow striped couch. Not of great monetary value, but I felt and feel very sentimental about it. And the Cunningham Moving Company in San Francisco wouldn't wait for me to send them the check.

December 24, 2007: Maybe it would have been better if she had remained Malena, the tango lady. Maybe life was a mother was too tough for her. Her style was good for the 50s and 60s and when she got to America, she had a hard time adapting. Motherhood, especially working motherhood, was different here. Taking care of three kids and being away all day just wasn't her thing.

December 23, 2007: Yesterday would have been my mother's 92nd birthday. Her theme song was Malena, the famous 1940s tango.

December 23, 2007: Yesterday would have been my mother's 92nd birthday. Her theme song was Malena, the famous 1940s tango.