My sister Evy and I moved several times in our childhood from Puerto Rico to NYC, and vice versa. It is an unstable memory of our childhood because we had to start all over again by making new friends, getting used to routines, and not forgetting the weather. This was all due to our dad’s work venues. My mom used to struggle with the cold winters in NYC. She would handwrite letters to our elementary school teachers explaining that we were island girls and could not handle freezing temperatures. Luckily, we were somehow excused. I think my mom has always been great with words.

I will never forget my sister speaking only Spanish when we returned to NYC, or only speaking English when we were in Puerto Rico. We moved about 7 times, and this was causing Evy a lot of confusion, being the younger one. We would often end up coming back to Bushwick, Brooklyn. It was a perilous neighborhood in the 80s, and the reason we stayed indoors most of the time. I remember the police officer sirens and people yelling on the street at night. We lived in a commercial area, so it was nice walking around to window shop. Although Evy loved to spend all her money on gold hoop earrings. Also, she had to make sure these were 18-carat gold or above. I never cared for such things other than my high school graduation ring. I would borrow her jewelry from time to time when going out.

We used to live in a 2-bedroom apartment with our parents and dog Ladrillo. The home was a railroad-style apartment owned by my father’s friend. I will never forget when my high school graduation ring was stolen. It was a gift from my dad, and I was in love with the Americana design in 18-carat gold. I was at my college campus in Queens when I heard the news that a man had broken into our apartment in Bushwick. He stole my sister’s gold jewelry, including my high school graduation ring. It happened that my sister and mom were sound asleep, but my mom had left the kitchen window open. This is how he came into the apartment. They were both so lucky that nothing happened to them. It could have been much worse. Although our jewelry was gone, I was overjoyed that they were both alright. It turns out that as my father was entering the building, the thief was leaving our apartment. My dad, not knowing what had occurred, greeted him warmly, and the thief smiled at him while calmly walking away. To the thief: I want my high school graduation ring back!