Gervasia Rivera Rivera
Gervasia Rivera Rivera (1908–2000), my mother and Fernando Rodríguez (1904–1993), my father, together they form the trunk of our family tree, 17 children, 13 females and 4 males, many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren, lots…
My mother spent her entire life working the land. She never went to school and didn’t know how to read or write. She never possessed material wealth or abundance. She always lived humbly and without envy toward anyone. Her life was difficult and full of sacrifice, and those very hardships shaped her into a strong and healthy woman. I never saw her suffer from anything more than a simple cold — and in truth, she couldn’t afford to fall ill.
From her, I inherited my love for coffee. She understood the entire coffee process, from cultivation all the way to serving it in the cup. Among the neighbors in our community, she was well-known for how delicious her coffee was.
She left our family — and especially me — with two life lessons that I have carried, and will continue to carry, until the end of my days.
The first lesson: she possessed one of the greatest virtues a human being can have — the ability to share. She would never take a bite of food without first offering to share it with whoever was near her. Whenever someone visited our home, the very first thing she would offer them was a cup of coffee, a piece of fruit, or an invitation to eat whatever she happened to be cooking at the time. This was a habit so deeply rooted in her that not even Alzheimer’s disease was able to erase it from her memory.
In the other lesson she left us, she was always firm and persistent. She would tell us:
“Things should be done right the first time, because no one is grateful for things that are done badly.”
(“Las cosas se hacen bien desde la primera vez, porque las cosas mal hechas no las agradece nadie.”)
Two simple lessons that can guide a person toward a life of fulfillment and success.
For your life, your teachings, and everything you did for all of us — thank you, thank you, thank you……
