Senior Spotlight – Gabriela Vazquez Calderon

Karina Castillo, Writer

“What I am most afraid of right now is what the future holds for me. You never know what’s coming for you like, how are you going to end? How is life going to end? You never know. I don’t know what might happen that can change everything from what I already have planned.  

I feel like there’s always something that makes me happy, like every day I don’t always have my happiest moments. I can’t have a favorite, because it’s just all special in their different ways. I will always hold a memory of my grandpa whenever he was alive, and he was with me, back when I lived in Puerto Rico. He was everything. My saddest moment was my grandpa passing away, it was the worst time of my life.  

I regret a lot of things. But maybe, like I never had a great relationship with my mom. And I regret building a bond and a relationship with my mom, like, late in my life. Like I know, I’m still young, but I could have always had a good relationship with her if I should let her play the role of a mother and not like, look at it in some other way. I was a kid, and I was stubborn. I always picture my mom as a villain. But to be honest she’s the best, she’s my best friend.  

She played as a strong, individual woman who only wants the best for her daughter. She’s the most influential person in my life. She shows me what’s right and what’s wrong. She makes me see life in a different way. She makes me want to push to my goals, I don’t know she influenced me in the best way possible. 

 I’m grateful for a lot of things to be honest. But I’m grateful that I’m alive and I have good family, healthy family, friends. Everybody around me like, appreciates me like I’m glad that I have a good life in general.”