Interviewer
Institute of Oral History
Project
Farah Strike
Summary of Interview
Arieta started off her interview by mentioning that she had always wanted to study to be a nurse. Her husband didn’t believe in her because she was 30 when she began trying to get into nursing. She even mentioned that she felt old to be studying, but she really wanted to be somebody and have a life other than just being a housewife.
Arieta was tired of being at home and not knowing anything about the world. She ended up not being a nurse because at that time they started to ask for people to have a high school degree and even more degrees that she didn’t have at that time. Since becoming a nurse was not an option anymore she started to help a women that used to advise other people about decorating homes and gardens. That made her feel very good with herself and accomplished, because now she had something to look forward to everyday instead of just staying at home.
When Arieta was little her mother didn’t have parents and his dad either, his dad used to work at the fields and her mother used to clean houses or any kind of job that she could get herself in. Before getting married her mother lived in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. She then moved to El Paso, Texas and then to Albuquerque. At the age of 15 she got married to Arieta’s dad and came back to live with him to El Paso. After having Arietas and her other 5 siblings, her dad abandon them when Arieta was about eight years old. They never talked about the subject because her mother would get pretty sad and depressed.
After her dad abandon them, Arietas started to work after school to help her mother support her family. She started by baby-sitting some kids of the neighborhood or family friends. She didn’t do very well at school at that point due to working and she never had fun because she was very occupied. After a couple of months she got hospitalized because she got a pre heart attack from working a lot and having so much stress in her life. She decided to quit working when she got to 9th grade, due to her hospitalization and her bad grades at school. At that point she decided to also quit school to help even more her mother, but to not have the stress of working and going to school. At the time of the interview she mentioned that she regrets quitting school. But t the same time she was glad that she helped her mom and siblings.
After a couple of months she got a job at the same company her brother worked at. She worked pretty hard and woke up pretty early to be there on time, since the only reason that she got the job was because of his brother and she didn’t want to make him look bad because of her.
Many years passed and Arieta met a guy, which she wanted to marry. Her mother was pretty jealous of her daughter because she thought that Arieta was going to abandon her just like her husband did. After some months her mother took the time to met Arietas boyfriend. After meeting him her mother realized that he was a very good boy and approved their marriage.
Arieta and her boyfriends started to go on more and more dates and they ended up getting married after two years of dating. After she got married her siblings ended up being very successful which made Arieta feel very bad for herself because she felt unsuccessful WORKING at Fara. She then decided to start doing something but she didn’t know what because she was lacking on many years of education.
She then had kids with her husband and started to dedicate time to her family and children, because she wanted to be there for them and be present. She decided to try and balance work with being a working mother, but that really didn’t work out. Her and her husband then decided to get a maid to take care of her children while she and her husband worked.
Overall she feels like she did a great job raising her kids, but she feels like her mother did a better job at raising her that what she did with her own children.
Date of Interview
2-1-2023
Length of Interview
1 hour, 5 minutes
Listen to the Interview
Tape Number
No. 1780
Transcript Number
No. 1780
Transcriber
Andrea Santos
Interview Number
No. 1780
Terms of Use
Unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Interview with Arieta by Institute of Oral History, 2023, "Interview no. 1780," Institute of Oral History, University of Texas at El Paso.
Comments
Andrea Santos transcribed the coversheet of the interview. There is no transcription of the interview.