Sitting up straight, and other things Nana taught me

Nana Rafaela, with a family friend, doing what she loved to do — sing.

I remember once my Nana told me to sit up straight. Actually, she said it tons of times. I could hear her voice now — “enderezate.” She always sat up straight. It meant something to her.

There’s something interesting about growing up poor. You don’t have much, so you focus on what you do have. When you’re poor, it isn’t the material things that matter. Instead, you focus on the things you can afford. The free things like sitting up straight.

Nana Rafaela was born in the town of Cumpas, Sonora, Mexico. List most places where poor people are born, it was an agricultural community in 1925. She was one of five kids, and her parents were born at the turn of the century.

I’m not sure how she ended up in the border town of Douglas, Arizona, but I’m glad she made it there. It’s where I was born and spent many summers at her home while both my parents worked.

Nana and tata picked us after school and always had the chores ready. They made us clean the furniture, or the muebles as she called them. Nana’s sight wasn’t so good, and sometimes the muebles looked just as shiny as the day before, but we did it anyway.

I loved many things about Nana, and on the top of the list is how often she said “enderezate.” It…