A Mother Lost Too Soon

A photograph of Mami taken by Papi at his photography studio in Old Havana around 1950. 

My brother, Joe, Mami and Papi in New York City. 

Mami holding me in our Bronx apartment.

Mami and I in the Bronx, where she and Papi settled after arriving from Havana.

My first birthday. My brother, Joe, looks on.

Mami always went all out on our birthdays. Here I was turning 3.

Mami and I in a Miami Beach hotel pool.

Mami and I on another Miami vacation. 

Mami, left, me and my aunt, Amada, my mother's younger sister, during a vacation in Miami, which was home to the largest Cuban exile population.