Ruby J. Gonzales moved forward while she cared for the multiple-colored irises, wide bright sunflower plants, and other colorful bright splashes of nature’s infinite beauty.

You plant a garden because you believe in the future. You punch a hole in the soft dirt with your finger and drop a seed in it because you believe in tomorrow. You can’t see what’s going on under the dirt, but you water what you can’t see, believing that one day you’ll see the fruit of your work.

My dear wonderful Mom was a warm and caring woman, a gentle soul with intense faith and overwhelming love-a woman whose integrity was her trademark, whose only habit was to mix love and truth with honesty, and offered her consejos throughout my life that, now as an adult, I refer to often and still hold close to my heart.

I have chosen to honor my Mom and document her teaching in the hope that as they have helped me through difficult times, her wisdom, grace, love, and compassion will be a part of the next generation and they too will witness what faith and trust in God looks like and how important love for family is.

I dedicate this book to the first woman I ever loved, my Mom.

-El Alto Moreno