Me

professor at the University of Puerto Rico. Remember, we are talking about a time when society dictated that most women could only aspire to be mothers or housewives. She was a surprising woman, so brave and such a visionary, that one day she decided to pack her bags and move to Boston to study education. In those times! But she moved to Boston and lived there until she graduated with a degree.
    I recently had the opportunity to dine with Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latina judge of the United States Supreme Court, and when I told her about my grandmother’s accomplishments, she was shocked. “A Latina woman studying in Boston in the forties? Your grandmother must have been a strong woman,” she said. And I of course felt very proud, because she was right: My grandmother was definitely an incredible lady.
    Although she was born in Puerto Rico, my grandmother’s family was originally from Corsica. We Corsicans are famous for being stubborn, and my grandmother was no exception: She was a very strong woman who was never afraid of anything. To me, she was always an example of what it means to be strong. For example, after fifty-some years of marriage, she realized she was no longer feeling fulfilled, so one day she got up and said to my grandfather: “You know what? I want a divorce.” In those days people got married for life, “until death do us part.” It wasn’t like today, when people get divorced for almost any reason at all. But my grandmother didn’t care what other people thought or said. For whatever reason, she wasn’t happy and she decided to do something about it. So my grandparents got divorced. After that, my grandfather would visit her every day, but the new domestic agreement remained, with her living in her own home, and him separately in his.
    My grandmother passed away more than ten years ago, after having lived a long, full life, well into her old age, and if there is anything I am grateful for, it is that she lived long enough to see and be a part of my success. Once, she even got on a plane and came to see me perform on Broadway when I was doing Les Misérables in New York. And let me tell you, she was definitely not a fan of airplanes! She once told me that she was terribly afraid of them since the day she flew back to Puerto Rico after finishing her studies in Boston. Apparently, there was some kind of electrical storm during the flight and the plane shook intensely. From that day on, she vowed she would never get on a plane again! And so it was. She only traveled by boat, that trip to New York being the one exception.
    It makes me sad to think I wasn’t able to see more of her during her last few years. I was working so much, always coming or going, always running, never having enough time to do the things that really matter. I did get to see her every now and then, in passing, but never again did I have the chance to spend days or weeks at a time with her, the way I did when I was a little boy. I remember one time I went to see her accompanied by a police escort. When I arrived at her house with the security unit, I yelled: “Grandma, I’m here to see you!”
    “Oh, son!” she said. “How wonderful!”
    But right away I had to clarify: “I’ve come to see you, Grandma, but I can’t stay too long. I have to go soon.” Like always, she didn’t make me feel guilty about having to leave. She simply thanked me for the visit and gave me a great big hug.
    “Okay,” she said, “it was wonderful to see you. Eat, you’re too skinny.”
    That was my grandmother.
    Another time, when I was on a trip in Puerto Rico, I had a helicopter land in her neighborhood’s baseball field just to see her. It was the only way I could do it because I had no time. While en route from one side of the island to the other on a business matter, I suddenly told the pilot: “I have to see my grandmother. Land in that baseball field!”
    And just like that, I got to spend another moment with her.
    There is nothing like grandmothers. To this day her teachings continue to serve me well. Some of the sweetest memories I have of my grandmother are of the two of us sitting there, me doing my homework and her painting or working on one of her projects. I often think of her wise words and her advice and feel as though I somehow carry her inside me. It’s such a blessing to be able to feel her so close.
    The only thing that does pain me when I think of her is that she never got to meet my children. There are so