Hey everyone! I noticed it’s been a while since I’ve made a presence here on modernmami. I would say it’s been because of the coronavirus pandemic, but that wouldn’t be entirely truthful. While the COVID pandemic has indeed affected my daily motivation and my family’s routine, the reality is that I had already seen a decline in my writing habits prior to the beginning of everyone’s new normal.
Due to chronic headaches and associated effects from managing my chronic pain, I found myself unable to keep up with the previous pace of work required to maintain this site. But, I am determined to get back at it, even if it’s just a bit at a time! So, let’s start fresh; let me introduce myself to those of you that are coming here for the first time and reintroduce myself to those of you that have been around a bit longer! Welcome and thank you for joining me in this continued journey!
A Little About Me
- I was born in Puerto Rico.
- But, my family moved to Florida when I was 8.
- I’ve lived in Florida ever since!
- I married a Caribbean islander too! He’s from Trinidad and we’ve been married 18 years.
- We have 2 beautiful multicultural children. They’re 10 & 15.
- Yes, I speak Spanish. Being bilingual is fun…and sometimes challenging (even to this day)!
- Raising multicultural children is also fun and challenging.
- I love to dance. I would have loved it if I could have been a professional dancer.
- I love sharing my cultural traditions with my family and children.
- And our Puerto Rican food. My kids may not always like all of our delicious Puerto Rican recipes, but I sure love eating them!
- I
suffer from, battle,live with a chronic illness called idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) AKA pseudotumor cerebri. I also have chronic migraines and about 2-3 other types of chronic headaches. - Depression has, unfortunately, also made its way onto my list of medical ailments.
- Living with chronic pain and a chronic illness for the past 7+ years has not been easy, y’all.
What Have I Been Up To This Past Year?
- Lots of family time! Like…a lot.
- Lots of Netflix & Hulu (and Prime Video and Disney+ too) – Hey, we’re in a pandemic and there’s been lots of time spent at home, remember?
- I’ve built up my island on Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Yes, MY island. On my own Nintendo Switch. The one that we bought specifically so I could have my own island after I initially had a house on my kids’ island, but then they didn’t want to cooperate very well and the three of us were having a hard time agreeing on design changes and villagers, etc. So yeah. That happened. (Did I mention that Animal Crossing came out right at the beginning of the pandemic – way back in March 2020?)
- More recently, I’ve started practicing my Pokémon photography skills with the release of New Pokémon Snap!
- We’ve been busy planning my daughter’s Quinceañero party! Oh man, is that a lot of work!
- I formalized some of my freelance professional services and launched them on Fiverr.
- Currently, we’re just trying to enjoy the more relaxed summer schedule!
What have you and your family been up to during this pandemic? I hope you all have been safe and healthy and that there has been minimal impact on you and your loved ones.
All photos © Melanie Edwards/modernmami™
Nice meeting you! My name is Nylsa, retired teacher from LAUSD and Puerto Rico. I was born in Arroyo ,P.R. ,studied at University of PR, where I graduated with a Bachelor degree in Education with a concentration in teaching English, Spanish, and Language Arts. My minor was Arts. [drawing,painting, sculpture and music] , thinking that it will be useful for my students !However, my brother became mentally ill, after going to the Vietnam war, so I added
clinical psychology to my studies. I worked at LA, University Hospital. I am retired now, living in LA.I pray that you get well soon! Take life easy and do not let your emotions take the best of you, pray(Jesus continue to bless us and could do miracles still to this day, but you have to pray and ask him to help you with the knowledge that he can hear you and love you ! You will be heal, believing that he hears you and listen to you!! Do this with faith and the knowledge that He is listening to you, FAITH, that’s all you need! Miracles are still happening but only with great faith between God,Jesus and you! God bless you, Nylsa