My family's pilgrimage
- Roxy Pereda
- La Crescenta, Ca
- UNITED STATES
- 17
My name is Lysa Roxanne Pereda. I was born in Glendale, California at Glendale Adventist medical center. I am 17 years old. My parents and I were born locally, in Glendale. Their families are the ones who made their journeys before them. So technically, this is their journey.
My abuelita’s journey began in Managua, Nicaragua. My abuelito’s began his in Tijuana, Mexico. On my mom’s side, the journey began way before that, when my great grandmother, Carrie immigrated from Sicily to Ellis Island. I am part Mexican, part Nicaraguan, part Italian, part French, and part Native American. It’s safe to say that I am a unique mix of everything. My heritage is everything to me, and when I have kids, I plan to pass everything down to them.
One beautiful and vibrant day in Sicily, my great grandmother got sick of living there. She decided that she didn’t want to start a family in Italy. She also grew anxious of the living conditions for her soon to be children. So one chilly night, she started her journey and immigrated to Ellis Island. She didn’t end up staying there though. After a couple days, she settled in the Bronx. On a dull day, Carrie went to the local grocery store and met my great grandfather. They fell in love and had three kids five years later. The kids were, my grandmother Evelyn, her sister Angelina, and her brother Eugene. When my grandmother was about 12 years old, her father died and then she went into a state of depression. When she was 18, her sister became friends with my grandfather, Patrick’s sisters, Terri and Billy. They met through each other months later. And literally like a week later, they started their courtship. When I spoke to my grandpa about this, he said he will always remember that when he said “ I just need someone to love me”, and she replied “ that someone is standing right in front of you”. He said at that moment, he knew he was in love. A few months into their courtship, they married at town hall. For the first couple of months that they were married, they didn’t tell their parents and remained living at home. When they told 8 months later, they moved to a local apartment.
My grandmother became pregnant and had both my aunt and uncle in the Bronx. 2 years later in 1969, my grandmother became pregnant with my mom, Lysa and they moved to California and settled in a small gray house on Fairmont Avenue. 13 years later, they divorced and told my mother, aunt and uncle that they only stayed together the last 13 years for the kids’ sake. The divorce papers arrived on my mother’s 13th birthday and she cried herself to sleep. After the divorce was finalized in court, my mom went to live with my grandpa and my aunt, Nancy, and my uncle, Tony remained with my grandma, and my mother met my dad at Hoover High school.
He was a senior and she was a freshman. They met and started living together when she turned 18. When she turned 21, she conceived me. While pregnant with me, she moved in with my grandpa in a messy, mall apartment on Wilson Avenue. When I was 3 years old, we moved up to La Crescenta with my grand mother Evelyn and we have remained for almost 15 years.
My grandmother Norma immigrated with her family form Managua, Nicaragua to Los Angeles, California. She described the journey as difficult. They settled all over California and different parts of the country. Norma settled in Echo Park. She eventually met my grandpa Carlos at the local swap meet. They had all their kid in Echo Park. After she divorced my grandpa when my dad was 1. So after that they moved to smaller house in Echo Park. 5 years later they moved to Glendale to the apartment that my grandma still lives in today. To conclude, my family had all made it to California, Glendale, to be more specific. And are all doing well. We are more spread out across the country then we were before. And because of current events, we are closer.