Moms will always be there for you!

My Mother, Ramona Rocha Padilla, means the world to me. The only reason I didn't start my travels until November 1, 2014 was because her 75th birthday was on October 20th. There was no way I was going to miss such a celebration of her life, after all we had family coming in from all over to surprise her. 

Surprised she was, we had led her to believe she was attending a friends wedding. My brother Rigo is always thinking ahead and even had her knit one of her beautiful blankets supposedly as a gift. What he didn't tell her was that it was being raffled off at her own celebration so one lucky person would have one of her pieces of art because that's what they really are. 

A very rare occasion these days is being able to gather the entire family all at once. For future reference, when some of us have a hard time remembering everyone's names I hope this comes in handy. On the top row from left to right there's Carlos the second youngest, Adolfo is #6, Abelardo is #7, in the middle row is George the youngest and only one with an English name, then it's myself Miguel and I'm #4, then Bertha #2, Martha is #1, Rigoberto #8 and in the front is Oralia #3 our father Fidel and our Mother Ramona and finally my youngest sister Arminda who is number 5. 

I had not seen my Mother since October 31st so I was really missing her. We are a family that tries to get together once a week. Not everyone makes it because of distance or previous commitments and work schedules. So this has been a little hard to do and being away from her at her age one never knows how long we might have them with us. 

It was with a great surprise that she flew out to Dallas and spent a week with me and my cousins. 

We had a good time going to different attractions here in the Dallas-Ft Worth area and I think she really enjoyed herself. 

At the entrance to one of the best zoological facilities I have ever been to The Dallas World Aquarium. 

We spent an evening with some of my cousins and one of my mothers sisters was also here from Mexico visiting. 

We also went to the Ft Worth zoo. 

She even helped with some Migueling!

She really enjoyed the famous Ft Worth Longhorn cattle drive. 

She even got her picture taken with a real cowboy in Ft Worth!

The night before she was to leave my cousins once again had a small family gather to wish her well. 

One week was way to short of a timeframe to spend with her but we all must continue in our journey. I think Dad was really missing her back home!

I will remember the joy in her face and until I see her again I send her my love!

Dallas has been incredible!

I have been here for a couple of weeks and have seen so much beauty. To me beauty has many meanings, the colors of new growth on every plant in the spring time, the people I meet and their incredible generosity, the birds and animal life I see and even the angry sky above. 

My cousin Jorge has been the kindest most generous person one can ever meet. He has a beautiful family here in Dallas and they welcomed me with open arms even though we hardly knew each other. I'm thankful for the time we have spent together and will always remember their warmth and hospitality. 

I got to see an art street fair in Ft Worth 

The Ft Worth Botanic gardens were so colorful and beautiful. The birds were singing all around me. 

The roses smelled wonderful 

All the other flowers were just breath taking 

I have never seen a real Longhorn cattle drive

The best surprise so far in my adventure was this week when my Mother surprised me by coming to Dallas to see me because she missed me. 

I have really treasured this week so far and getting to spend time with her

My cousin took me to my very first crawfish boil at his companies appreciation for their vendors

I think I lost weight peeling them for that tiny bit of meat you get out of them!

I even had lunch at the famous Gas Monkey Restaurant 

I really enjoyed talking to some of the students at Rockwall High Schools AVID program about my trip and that if you want something all you have to do is go out and do it, nothing holds you back other than oneself!

I really must thank my friend Daryl Richardson, owner of The Dallas World Aquarium for having my Mother and I as guests of this world class facility. There really is no other like it and brings so much joy to so many. 

The animal, and specially the bird collection, is unrivaled. 

Rockwall High School

Sometimes in life you meet individuals that have an impact on your life for the better and this is one of those stories. Back in December when I was traveling through Tucson I met Dr Courtney Gober and his wife Devyn. I was touring the Biosphere 2 and we were all in the same guided group. At one point Dr Gober asked me if I would like for him to take my picture with my regular camera, he must have seen me awkwardly trying to take selfies with my phone!   

As the tour progressed we had the opportunity to chat about what I was doing with my life and the journey I was on. The end of our tour came and we were in the gift shop where we were able to ask an unsuspecting bystander if they would take our picture. Before we said our goodbyes Dr Gober gave me his business card and asked that when I reached Dallas to please give him a call. I wrote to Dr Gober afterwards and he asked if I would like to speak to some of his students about my journey. I agreed to it and that I would be in touch with him when I reached Dallas. 

Fast forward five months and I finally made it to Dallas. Dr Gober and I arranged that I would come on Monday, April 20 to speak to five different classes of students in the Schools AVID program. These are typically the first in their family to be on track to enroll and attend college. It was with great honor that I was welcomed into their classrooms, seeing the eagerness in their faces to hear what I have lived and hopefully inspired some of them to go out, set their mind to any goal they can dream of and work towards attaining it. 

I wore my overalls and hat on purpose for the very reason that this has been what I have been wearing throughout my trip. That it doesn't matter what you look like in order to enjoy life and to not judge the book by its cover. 

Dr Gober would introduce this farmer looking individual to the classroom and then I would tell them about my life experiences and amazing friends in my life. 

Every class was given the opportunity to ask me questions, which there were many intelligent ones and  hopefully I answered them with inspirational responses. 

The classes ranged in grades from 9th through 12th. 

My hat has gotten its own fan club!

In each class I asked if anyone would like to take random photos and here are a few. 

I want to thank everyone that I had the honor to meet at Rockwall High School and wish them the best of luck in all of their future dreams and endeavors. 

Life is so colorful!

I arrived in Grand Prairie, Texas just outside of Dallas a few days early in order to beat the storms that were being mentioned on the weather reports. I didn't like that I had to leave my friend Sheila's home a few days early because I was really enjoying the country life. 

Look at those colorful smiles from Sheila and her baby daughter Zoe, who made me a special watercolor painting of a blueberry, they are beautiful. 

Sheila and I went for a couple of walks down long, winding country roads and it was very peaceful and it made me feel rejuvenated afterwards. 

The critters we encountered were interesting and the signs scared me a little!

Sheila found the most beautiful Luna Moth I had ever seen!

Unfortunately I lost many of my last pictures from the camera card I had. I ended up buying new cards and hopefully this won't happen again. 

I arrived in Grand Prairie safely and was greeted by my cousin Jorge. He is my Mothers nephew and it had been years since I had seen him and his family. Jorge needed to go back to work and I went along with him. He works for a large contractor that is almost finished the construction of UT Southwestern New hospital. He showed me around the building and it's such an incredible new facility. 

He took me to the rooftop thirteen floors up in order to get a view of Dallas' skyline and the immense open space open around it. 

After getting Motel Miguel situated for the duration he started showing me the city and some of its attractions. 

The Dallas Cowboys Stadium where we got to go inside for a few minutes and I just had to do some silly stuff like slide down the staircase railing!

Then we moved on to the Rangers baseball team stadium where they were preparing for a game and let me step inside through a side door for a photo. A group of young men who are known as the cone crew jumped into my picture!

After this we went out front where more silliness continued and that's where the first photo of this post was taken on the giant baseballs. 

Family time has always been important in our family and on Saturday my cousins daughter had a birthday celebration in her honor. 

It's always fun observing children enjoying a cake and all the singing that comes along with a celebration. 

On Sunday my cousin and three of his children took me over to Ft Worth so that I could see part of the city. We didn't know that a large street art festival had been going on all weekend and we got there towards the very end. We walked around and enjoyed what was left of it. 

The of my four second cousins Ismael, Alejandra and Judith!

Some of the cars at the festival were amazing. 

Once again life has shown me how colorful it is and I just need to take the brush and paint it as bright as I want to!