How did she do it all? Lupe herself
isn’t sure. “I hardly know. When I think
back to those years, it seems like a life
that someone else lived.” It was a rich
and exciting but also very challenging
period for Lupe and her family. On
the one hand, Lupe was motivated by
the desire to set an example for her
children, to prove to them that they
could succeed in the English-speaking
academic world. On the other hand, she
worried about neglecting her family. She
tried hard to attend important activities,
such as parents’ meetings at school
and her children’s sporting events. But
things didn’t always work out. Lupe still
remembers attending a baseball game
that her older son, Victor, was playing in.
When Victor came to bat, he hit a home
run. But as the crowd cheered and Victor
glanced proudly over at his mother in
the stands, he saw she was studying a
textbook. “I hadn’t seen the home run,”
Lupe admitted. “That sort of thing was
hard for everyone to take.