Aqui estoy! Si no me quieres, pues ya ni modo!

Who am I? That's a really good question. I can go on and on about where and who I'm from but I am going to narrow it down to three artifacts that identify me socially, culturally and ethnically;
1. My wedding band.

My ring identifies me in society as a married man. I am married to a beautiful young woman who I have known since I was little. My wedding band reminds me everyday of how I as a human being, I believe in being fully committed to the one I love through the act of marriage. Marriage is not only my legal right but it is a privilege and I have made that decision to be part of my identity forever. When my wife was 11 years old, her sister and her decided, one night that they were going to have a little sleepover on the trampoline. Being in the summer time and near irrigation ditches, meant that it was also mosquito season. While sleeping, both girls received many mosquito bites, but it was one mosquito in particular that bit my wife that happened to transmit West Nile virus into my wife's immune system. This of course caused her whole body to have an auto immune reaction. Instead of fighting against the virus, it started to attack and destroy her amino acid transporter cells which happened to be the cells that communicate with the brain to allow there to be coordination in the body. Slowly my wife lost her ability to walk and then her ability to speak and soon after that she was placed in a wheel chair with a feeding tube inside her stomach. For seven long and torturous years my wife was completely trapped inside her body. She had no control whatsoever but what consciously there. When she was fifteen, she miraculously started to get better (I was a senior in high school at this time). But after receiving gall bladder surgery her faced faced too much stress which caused her to have a relapse and she was stuck in her wheel chair once again.

When leaving for a two year religious mission for my church i had her make a promise with me. She was to do everything in her power to stay positive and do everything she could to get better, and I came home I was to see her walking down the football stadium receiving her diploma and my end of the bargain was to take her to the harry potter park, at universal studios--you have to understand that Harry Potter plays a very important role in our friendship. When I came home sure enough she was better and was walking once again. Our friendship continued to be strong and our feeling began to grow to mor ethan just a friend ship, after a year of bing home on the mission I had gained to courage to ask her to be my girlfriend and thats when every thing started to fall into place. I had kept my promise and after dating for a few months I had kept my side of the bargain and i took her to Universal studios in Orlando Florida and the night after that we went to go see the last Harry Potter premiere where I had gained to courage to ask her to be my wife. That was in the summer of 2011 and we were planning on getting married in April 2012. We both felt strongly about December but both families refused to help us if we were to plan a wedding so soon into to year (to us it seemed like it was still too far away. When I went back to college. During the beginning of the semester my roommate and I were watching the oscars and a local commercial from Fox 13 came on saying that they were hosting a dream wedding contest and we had to enter online in order to win an $19,000 wedding. I had asked my roommate to help me fill out the application and within a week we were chosen as one of the five finalist couples of 300 entries which allowed us to take over facebook as much as we could. We campaigned and campaigned and campaigned and eventually all that campaigning paid off and we won the contest which allowed us to receive the photography, the wedding dress, the catering, the venue, the dj, the honeymoon suite, and of course the rings. Oh and they were only offering us all of these things if we agreed to get married in December. Of course we agreed!

                                   

2. My Temple Recommend. its interesting how one tiny piece of paper can mean so much to my identity. Culturally not only am I Hispanic/Latino/Chicano I am Also LDS. This Little paper is a great reminder of who I am and who I strive to be every day. When going into an interview to receive this interview I am asked several questions from my Bishop (the leader of my local congregation) and then my Stake President ( the Leader of my local congregation and the rest of them in my local area). The question allow me to reflect who I am as a person. Asking if I have a Testimony of God the Eternal Father, Jesus Christ the Redeemer, and The Holy Ghost as my constant spiritual companion. more Questions regarding my personal belief that Joseph Smith was a Prophet, That we have Prophets today, and that our local leader are all called by the prophet from Christ himself. Along those lines I Am asked questions about keeping commandments and treating my fellow men with love and honesty and then asked to state my own personal feeling on whether I feel worthy to enter into the House of the Lord. The Temple is considered the holiest place on earth. Everyone i allowed the opportunity to enter the temple, but they are to be spiritually prepared or they will not understand completely the blessings and instruction they are to receive within the temple. A temple recommend is personal, and should be something that is flaunted or bragged about. Not everyone is spiritually ready to go into the temple and sometimes there are certain sins that can impede us from enter into this sacred building. I share this recommend as my second artifact because that is what reminds me of who I am and who want to remain to be. 

3. Last but certainly not the least is our Tortilla Warmer. 

 This says everything about me ethnically. There is hardly ever a meal where my family never eats without handmade flour tortillas. My mom even taught each and everyone of my siblings and myself how to make tortillas before we grew old enough to leave the house. Tortillas are our bread. They are also sometimes our spoons. But we do not eat beans and chile, our enchiladas, nor our frito pies without our tortillas. I have always grown up with tortillas and when My wife and I got married one of the first items on our wedding registry at bed bath and beyond was this specific tortilla warmer. Tortillas remind both my wife and I of where we came from and they remind us of this simple tradition that has been passed on from generation to generation and will continue to be passed on to our children as well. In the olden days Flour, yeast, oil and salt were sometimes the only items that could be afforded, we are reminded as a hispanic family that when we make tortillas it is to remind us of the blessings that we are provided in life. Trials may be hard be we will never grow hungry. As simple and silly as this artifact may be, it says a lot about who I am.