Those were years of building a life brick by brick, stitch by stitch, with the infinite patience of someone who knows that what matters isn’t getting there quickly, but getting there at all. Tomás grew up and became a serious and studious young man. With the support of his teacher, Sofía, he earned a scholarship to study at a technical school in the city. Catalina cried the day he left, but they were tears of pride. She knew her son had a future ahead of him, that he would no longer be trapped in the cycle of poverty that had crushed so many generations before him.
Tomás promised her he would return, that he wouldn’t forget her, and that one day he would repay her for everything she had sacrificed for him. Lupita, for her part, grew into a cheerful and talkative young woman with a natural talent for numbers and for persuading people of anything. By the age of 15, she was already helping her mother with the sewing business, not only sewing but also keeping the accounts and negotiating with clients. She had plans to open her own fabric store someday, although Catalina jokingly told her she should finish school first.
Carlitos, the youngest, grew up a happy and curious child, without the dark memories that haunted his older siblings. For him, the grotto in the mountains was just a story his mother sometimes told, but one that seemed as distant as a fairy tale. He grew up knowing he had a home, that he had food on the table, and that his mother was the strongest person in the world. Catalina aged slowly and with dignity. Wrinkles etched themselves on her forehead and around her eyes, not from bitterness, but from smiling in the sun as she worked.
Her hands grew rough and calloused, but they were still able to create beautiful things with needle and thread. Her hair turned gray, and she decided not to dye it, because each gray hair was a testament to a battle won, a difficult night survived, a child fed when there was nothing in the pantry. Father Anselmo became a close friend of the family. He visited Catalina’s house every week, always with some excuse, bringing sweets for the children or a borrowed book for Tomás.
