While in nursing school my mother cared for Cantinflas who she said was very nice and gave her and the others nurses each one hundred pesos as a thank you for his care. She also received much attention from the young doctors and other young men. She was young, pretty, smart, confident and single. A few years ago a close aunt told me the story of those days. At least once per week usually a young professional, doctor, lawyer or government employee would show up at her house asking if Ms. Flores would agree to a date. Sometimes they would show up with a lawyer and/or priest in case a more serious commitment could be made that same day. The routine was always the same, her uncle would invite them into a front room. He would then find my mother and ask her if she was interested in the young man and her answer was always the same, “no” so he would shoo them away much to their surprise. Her uncle knew he could not tell Dolores Flores who to date or marry so he did not even try.
One the day with a lawyer and priest in tow, the governor’s son arrived at their door. Into the front room they went to wait. I imagine my great uncle must have thought maybe this will be the day she agrees to at least one date. Again the answer was no so out the front door went the priest, the lawyer and a dejected young man. My mother had told us a version of this story but when my aunt told me the longer version I wondered out loud why she had never accepted even one date. My aunt, a modern, intelligent women not prone to exaggeration looked directly at me and stated, “She was waiting to have you”. Her statement shook me in a good way and made me appreciate my mother even more. As a young women who suffered the loss of both parents by the age of fourteen she had to learn to make all her own life decisions. Luckily for myself and my sisters and father she knew to wait.
One summer day when she was eighteen and almost finished with nursing school an uncle came to visit. He was living in Los Angeles and wanted to invite one niece to spend the summer in the United States. In my mother’s version of the story, her hand shot up first so she was chosen from the six sisters and cousins to spend the summer in Los Angeles. I think she was chosen for who she was as a person. And even though she was in her element in Mexico City being away from where she lost her parents for a summer was probably appealing to her. It was not an easy decision but she made it and forever changed the course of her life.
