In 2020, Ludwin Majano moved out of his grandma’s house to go live with his mom because of the homeschooling situation. He was 12 at the time. He misses his grandma – he grew up with her and that’s why he’s so close with her. He talks about how they lived and what they would do as a kid. He wishes he could go live with his grandma but because of a cat he can’t. He talks about his memories with his grandma and why she’s important to him. He says how his grandma gives him advice and tells him to be the best of himself.

Transcript: 

Ashlie Gomez: First off, tell me some things about yourself?

Ludwin Majano: My name’s Ludwin Majano and I’m 16 years old.

AG: Okay so let’s start, who has had a big impact on your life?

LM: I’d say my grandma because she’s always telling me to be the best I could be.

AG: How has she like thought you to be the best of yourself?

LM: She’s taught me that anything is always possible if you put your mind to it and stay in your own lane.

AG: How have you and your grandma become like close over the years?

LM: Um I’d say mainly by spending time together and especially cause I use to live with her we’d um we would just talk um when I’d get home from school or when she would um make me food we’d eat and talk and just she’d always give me advice and uh that’s something I don’t take for granted.

AG: Um what are some of your favorite memories with her?

LM: Um I’d say probably her teaching me how to dance when I was little with um with music she would listen and uh always telling me be the best I could be and uh to hang with the right people if I wanna be something and uh I’m always in control of my life so I know everything depends on me.

AG: What caused you to live with your grandma?

LM: Um well she raised me since I was a little kid so um I was uh attached to her since I could remember so I’ve always been close to my grandma.

AG: Um and how many years did you live with her?

LM: I lived 12 years with her and uh during quarantine I came over to my mom’s house because of the WiFi and I needed um internet to do home school so yea came to my mom’s house cause at the time my grandma didn’t have WiFi so that’s when I moved out.

AG: Um do you think that caused you to be more separate.

LM: Not really um I’ll always be close to my grandma so the distance and the place that I’m staying at really won’t matter.

AG: When you moved out of your grandma’s house did you want to move out or did you want to stay there?

LM: Well obviously I wanted to stay but cause of the homeschooling situation I had uh to come to my moms house for the, for the WiFi. 

AG: And do you miss her like on some days you’re not with her… do you get me like oh do you ever miss her when you haven’t seen her for like a few days and your like…

LM: I always miss her so, and uh I’m always thinking about… uh you know when she would make me food or we would just watch TV at night so obviously I always miss her but yea. 

AG: If you had the choice to move back in with her would you like to move back in?

LM: Um obviously but she has a cat because of my, her daughter, my little aunt and uh I’m allergic to cats so that.. .that doesn’t let me go back so but if they didn’t have a cat I feel like I would probably stay there for a week and then come back to my house for a week and bounce back and forth but yea I’d always liked to go back to where I grew up.

AG: Do you think you’re closer to your grandma than your mom and dad?

LM: Um I’d say I’m probably the closest with… uh I’d say um I’m closest with both of them I don’t think I’m closer to either one as in I’m more closer to my grandma than my mom I feel like I’m close to both of them equally and uh I’m not that close with my dad because of him being in El Salvador um my whole life so he was never around and uh… the only time I’ve seen him was during the time I went to El Salvador for… for the months I’ve been there every- for the past three years so obviously I’m not gonna be as close to him as my mom and grandma but I still value the things he tells me and advice and uh those are things that will stick with me forever and yea.

AG: Do you think that has impacted your childhood?

LM: Um… in the sense that my dad hasn’t been around I could probably say yea cause I didn’t have a father figure like a stable father figure in my childhood um I didn’t have a father figure teach me how to be a man you know I’d have to figure that out on my own and uh but with only my mom and grandma being the parents in my- in my life I’d say… I probably… learned how’d respect women more know how women think so if there’s a scenario where you know… like a bad scenerio with a woman I’ll probably know how to deal with it pro- properly um they’ve taught me how to be responsible and respect no matter where and with who or what the situation is but um if my dad was around it would probably be different I’d probably be more… like less respect with women maybe um knowing my dad he… you know but yea.

AG: Um you said you like, you go to- you’ve gone to El Salvador for three years um during the vacations do you have any favorite memories with him?

LM: Um I have a lot but the few that stand out are the times he’s gone to see me at the house and uh were just taking outside and he’s telling how I should always strive to be the best and uh always… always um… like if I want something to go get it like no ones gonna be stopping me and nothings gonna be given so if you really want something you have to do it you have to work for it um and also him just telling me like to always stay in shape always exercise um sit ups, push ups and all that even if I can’t go to the gym on certain days even over the phone he tells me like you know if you can’t go to the gym you have your body weight to do push ups, sit ups, pull ups and uh he was big on the fitness when he was younger so I wanna be… I wanna be like him in that sense of um being healthy physically if not better then how he used to be and uh yea.

 AG: What are some future memories you want to make with your grandma?

LM: Um… I’d like to take her out for her birthdays or for Christmas I’d like to take her to a restaurant and uh just take her out you to wherever cause growing up all she would is take me to school go to work and come back and uh we wouldn’t really go out like that on like in the sense of like going  to new places we would just go to like the same store on a Saturday get um the necessities hygiene wise and then we would go back home and uh that’s it so I’d like to take her out for special occasions and just um you know give her memories that will last with her forever and me. 

AG: Do you have any regretful memories with your grandma? 

LM: Regretful um… I don’t- I wouldn’t say that um I would say I regret not making more memories with my grandma or my loved ones in general cause at the end of the day that’s all you have you now when your old and all you have is memories and um those are things you shouldn’t cherish and take for granted… you should i’m sorry you should cherish and you should take for granted and um I would definitely like to make more memories with not only my grandma but with um all my family and um my friends and the people that are close to me.