Presenting: Lovely Lalo in PJs

I started this bear with a different subject in mind (see Monroe bear). But once I was all the way to the neck, I could see the chubby little boy in his pj's. He was very much loved by his abuelita y abuelito. He never knew his immigrant father. After his grandparents died, his mother was not adult enough to parent him alone.

As he grew--learning to be confident on those LA streets, holding his head high as men called out to him from their cars as he walked home from school--he found his own way. Escaped to Ivy Leagues and higher degrees.

His mom turned him away for being too much her son--liking the guapos, laughing too loud, waving his arms.

I wish you'd have been my little brother (although the homophobia there was as harsh as LA, maybe more so). I wish we had been there to give that little boy hugs when his mama faltered.

Maybe I’ll make a bear for Becky Salas some day.

Side note: Lalo’s story is like the opposite of Jeff’s. Such different worlds. Such different twists…