Response to My Bloody Life by Reyemundo Sanchez

My Bloody Life: The Making of a Latin King

Reymundo Sánchez

In “My Bloody Life: The Making of a Latin King,” Reymundo has gone through a harsh life since he was 5 years old. Reymundo met Cindy and she was the only one that told him the truth, she said to him, “Listen being poor should give you a stronger will to succeed, not an excuse to have pity for yourself, to fail. My parents, our family, are dirt poor. That’s why I have to finish college so that I can be their out.” Her words had hurt Reymundo because what Cindy had said was the truth, and like every other person, it sometimes hurts to hear the truth.

There has been a time when I was confronted with the truth and that was not too long ago, I would say 4 months or so ago. I was in a relationship with this guy, Cesar, my family did not like him and every day my mother or my brother would tell me that he was cheating on me and that he didn’t care about me and that the only reason he was with me was because I gave him money and a roof to live under, personally I didn’t believe them and didn’t really listen to them. I was in that phase where my relationship with him was more important to me than anything else, so I ignored them, and continued to enjoy my relationship. I worked my butt off to give him money so he can pay rent or sometimes buy him presents like we always did for every month we were together. We were living together at my mother’s house, so every day my mother would see the way he treated me and the way he acted. One day, he and I had a huge fight about our economy problems because I had to quit my job because of my health problems that I was going through during that time, and he didn’t want to work. My mom called me out and said to me, “If he cared about you, he wouldn’t get mad about finding a good job so he can pay for rent and put food on the table for you and him,” I got mad and just walked away from my mom. Days had gone by and he started working at a moving company, and all the money he got paid, he wouldn’t save it up and he wasted it on alcohol. I started to realize that what my mom said was true, but I didn’t let it affect my relationship, but I did face him about how there’s priorities and that money needs to be used for bills and rent and not alcohol.

A month later, I had gotten sick and had to be taken care of, my mother said to me that she wasn’t going to take care of me because I was now independent and living with my boyfriend, so he was the one that was responsible for me, I got really mad because well, I was always used to my mom taking care of me, but I sort of thought she was right. On that same day, Cesar had gotten home from work and I had a really bad fever, he made me soup and gave me my medicine, so he was taking care of me in a way. Later that night, I felt like I needed to head to the hospital, but didn’t tell him anything, he came to me and said, “Babe, I’m going out with my “bros,” tonight and I’ll be back later tonight,” I got really upset and just yelled at him, “Whatever,” obviously I was going to react that way because I was sick and he was going to leave me at home alone sick. He didn’t care and he left. Around 4 a.m. he called me saying he was on his way home, I was furious and still not feeling well, I told my mom to please open the door for him because I was going to sleep, my mom agreed. Around 4:45am, I heard a car pulling up, and I woke up, I ran down the stairs and my mom said, “He’s with another girl, and that’s how he loves you and respects you? He left you while you were sick and that’s how he cares? You need to open your eyes and realize everything he’s doing,” I got so mad at my mom I just walked outside and asked Cesar who that girl was and he said it was just a friend, and I believed him. The day after we had to pay rent, I asked him to give me the money and he said he didn’t have money, I asked him what happened to the money, and he said he had spent it, he didn’t tell me on what, but his friend had called me early in the morning to tell me he spent $400 dollars on alcohol, I got so frustrated because he had lied to me. Things were getting better between as time went by, he started saving up money to pay the bills and the rent, he left his night life behind because I had gotten really sick and had to be on bed rest for two months. After 2 weeks, it went back to the same exact thing and I couldn’t take it. I didn’t really say anything to him, but I stuck around, because I think being in a relationship you have to accept a person just the way they are. He broke up with me a week after because he said I was too controlling and too jealous, but I was only like that because he gave me reasons to be like that. My mother saw how upset I was, but she didn’t care and she said to me, “I told you he didn’t care, I told you he doesn’t love you, I told you this and that,” and I got so mad and just told her to leave me alone because I didn’t want to hear all that. A week after I find out that in fact, he did cheat on me and I was so heartbroken…

I just now started to accept that what my mother and brother said was true even if it’s hurting me. Each day, they always remind of how much I ruined my life at a young age, how he wasn’t worth risking everything I had for, how he doesn’t deserve my tears and it still hurts to hear all that because I still do have feelings for Cesar and care for him. My mom thinks I shouldn’t really care what happens to him because of how badly he affected my life and how I wasted most of my money on him, but I’m not that type of person that holds grudges, I honestly believe in forgiving someone. Even though the truth hurts me, I realized that they’re only telling me these things because they care about me and want me to be better in life and don’t want me to sad over a guy who isn’t worth it.