Joan C Serrata:  

2010 I have been happily married to Jesus "Chuy" Serrata for 53 years this year. We are devoted to our 2 sons, 2 daughters, all married with 4 grandsons & 5 granddaughters and 2 great grandsons. We have lived in South San Francisco, Calif for 50 years; and all of our children and Grands live here in the Bay area - from upstairs to an hour away. But we have enjoyed going back to Brownsville almost every year and would love to be able to live there - if we could take ALL of our family with us. We have enjoyed travelling - around the US (to 41 states) Mexico, Guatamala, Europe (England, Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Canada and British Columbia. We have had/are having a GREAT life! 2011 Well.... this has been a VERY "trying" year,,,,since I had a stroke in July.... I'm beginning to walk ...without a cane - a little....in the house. But am still getting NO movement in my left hand and arm. I Hate that Chuy is doing a LOT of things he never had to do....and I loved doing: cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. At least I am now able to dress, undress, shower, etc. for myself. And I can do most of the laundry. Just can't fold the sheets. 2013 the therapists won't work with me anymore. The neurologist says the MRI shows white spots on my brain that indicate I won't get anymore use of my hand...and foot. I still walk around the house most of the time without my cane - which I take when we go out. And Chuy still pushes me in the wheelchair when we are going to have very far to walk.... 2015 Things have gotten more difficult since our older son, Jim, 54, had a heart attack and died suddenly last Nov (2014). His son Andrew (now 31) who had been living with us the last 10 years, moved down the street with friends. And our youngest daughter Janine's husband, Tony, died in 2013 after suffering several years with "gout". That left her with her daughter, Samantha, at home and their other daughter, Roxanne, in college an hour away. The next year Samantha went to NY to school at St. John's College. She is now on a study program in Europe. Just finishing up 6 weeks in Rome, 6 in Seville, and 6 in Paris. She is due home in a couple of weeks. Two of our grandsons, Lucinda's son, Robert, and Ed's son, Nicholas, were in school in South Dakota playing baseball . In Feb they were going to Okla to play, so we flew to Dallas and Brownsville, Tx. highschool classmate Miike Solis picked us up. We had dinner with his friend Rosemary Lopez and spent the night at his house; then he drove us to Gainsville (Tx) where we met classmates of mine from Okla - Janice McCabe Lewis and Richard Haley for lunch. We went to Richard's in Healdton, Okla and he let us borrow his SUV which we drove to Shirley Hamilton Hursts in Moore, Ok.- another Healdton classmate, The next day I visited my cousin, Beverly Kaye, who is now living in a "home" in Midwest City. Our daughters Lucinda and Janine flew to Dallas and met their cousin Christine, her husband Donnie and sister Margaret, and they, our son Ed and his wife Gina, all met us in Okla City. The day before Robert's arm went out again (he had torn his "rotator cuff" a couple of years before, had two surgeries and knew he needed another one) so he flew home to SFO. He ended up deciding not to have the surgery). But we were all in Okla City for Nicholases games. I have relatives ALL over Okla.(altho MANY are now in cemeteries). I bought flowers to put on their graves and WAS able to put them on 6 graves of great aunts and uncles in the cemetery across the street from where Nicholas was playing. My cousin, Tony, and Chuy's cousin, Chavela's daughter, Carmen , her husband and daughter came to the game to see us. The next day our friends Ellie and Cris Cruz came by. (they live in Bakersfield,...Expand for more