Recently, my husband and I joined toastmasters. We have to give so many speeches and evaluate so many speeches.
About 2 weeks ago, we were give ice breakers speeches. We are supposed to talk about ourselves. I thought how bad can it be to talk about oneself? It has been a week now, and I can't come up with a single thing to talk about. I keep asking myself, what is interesting about me? What do people want to know about me that is worth sharing. I am boring! =D Course, I kid myself. I am not really boring but thinking about me is difficult!
For starters, I came up with a tagline for myself.
I am dynamic and tenacious!
Marla, a class of it’s own.
Simply Marla.
Every Marla has a story.
Haha! Don't laugh!
Ok... ok... here is my outline.
I was born and raised in Miami, Florida. My immediate family came to the USA in the early 1960s and became refugees. I have 2 brothers: my eldest brother, Maui was a wild one when he was younger, and my youngest brother, Marcos was the cutey one with blond hair and green eyes. I am the middle child. They say the middle child is just that, stuck in the middle, and wondering what part they play in the family. Up until this day, I am still trying to figure that out that part.
My grandparents were a big part of our upbring and childhood, and they helped shape us. They picked us up from school and baby sat us until my mother came to pick us up.
Sometimes, when my Abuelo would come home from work-- My abuelo was a cabnet carpentar and the best there was in Miami. His wood work was precise-- Well... as precise as his expectations of us. He expected us to go to school and do our best to do well. He expected all of us to attend college and graduate with whatever it was we wanted to do. His favorite saying after I would tell him what flavor of career I wanted today, was always, "Si, pero, estudia. No importa que estudes solo que estudies." He sounded like a broken record at times but it stuck in my head so much so that I ended up getting an education.
It took me 10 years to acquire my Bachelor of Arts but got it by golly, I got it! I tried to go for an even higher degree in law but met head on with failure. Nevertheless, I wanted a law degree so much, I turned to lower degree at the undergraduate level and obtained my paralegal certificate. Thus, today I have a paralegal certificate and I am working with a fine lawyer.
Second to studying, my abuelo would stress over and over again how important it was for us to learn Spanish well. He would say, "Aprende el espanol bien y aprende el castellano! Algun dia lo vas a necesitar. He would lecture how Spanish is Spanish and if you learn the castillion, you can speak to all Spanish speakers. Like most young people, I said yea yea yea, I know.
Now I look back on those days, and I think, my abuelo was a sage.
Consequently, I did listen to my abuelo because today I use my Spanish more than ever and my education has elevated my status.
However, if it hadn't been for my dear husband, I would not have completed that education. For, it would have taken me a century to complete. Not only that, but I moved away from home at 21 and little did I know how much I'd struggle. When I moved to Colorado back in 1994, I had no idea how hard it would be to make ends meet on a mere high school education. My initial work experience has taught me the value of a good education and the value of hard work.
