Carlos Rodriguez sat on a gray
single seat sofa; he used a lot of hand gestures to speak and every time he
moved his hands he moved the collar of his shirt reveling streaks of a tattoo
on his chest.
He began his life story with a dream of people being shot and evacuating
the country. “ I’m trying to understand the meaning behind that dream,” he
said. He continued talking about his dreams, most of which had death, panic,
and confusion.
Rodriguez believe that most of his
dreams have meanings or messages send by his conscious and his dead mother. He
was born and raised in Houston till he was four years old. Rodriguez’s mom left
his dad when he was a baby then moved to Florida with some of her family
members. Then later that year his mother moved to valley, leaving Rodriguez and
his older brother in the hands of his mother’s sister and her husband.
When Rodriguez was living with his
aunt he said everything was well till she cheated on her husband with his best
friend who was currently living with them. His aunt left to Oklahoma with her
new Boyfriend, leaving her two biological nephews and 3 sons under the care of
her ex-husband. Rodriguez said him and his brother grew up alone and they were
each other support and biggest influence.
Five years later, his mother called
he children to tell them she was finally going back for them. Yet that same
night she passed away in a reckless car accident.
Years later Carlos moved to the
valley with other family members and met two boys in his middles school
football practice. He eventually moved in with one of them and has been living
there ever since.
He questioned in the beginning of
the interview, what was so special about him, and in the end he answered his
own questioned, He said he feels special because he knows his mother is taking
care of him. He feels that now that his mother passed away he has a stronger
connection with here and is his guardian angel. “ I had to go through bad in
order to see the good, and I want other to see their own self worthiness even
if hey have nothing or now one in this world, and in order to be good you have
to be happy and in order to be happy you have to accept your life situation and
be forgiving,” he says.
19-year-old Rodriguez is currently
a mechanic with his friend's dad and plans to hopefully go to college to study Philosophy one day.
