StoryCorps: The unbreakable bond between mother and daughter

Gloria Arrieta-Sherman never thought she would have kids – but at 36 she unexpectedly got pregnant, and nine months later Michaela was born. Gloria says, Being a single mom was hard on her, especially because Michaela’s father was an alcoholic and wasn’t willing to help raise their daughter. Now at age 17, Michaela has a very strong relationship with her mother. They both met up at the StoryCorps booth in San Francisco to reflect on the difficult circumstances that brought them closer through the years.

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MICHAELA ARRIETA NAVE: I don’t know anything about my dad, at all.  I don’t know any history about him. The only thing he’s told me about when he was a kid is that he used to read, like, a book every day and I think he just said that so I would try to do my homework. 

I don’t know ... I remember good stuff about him: like going mushrooming with him, and him coming over and cooking. And every time he’d come over – every time – it would end up with him going to the bar and me staying home, scared, keep calling the bar over and over again, annoying the bartender, like, “Is my daddy there?” You know, it’s because I would get scared.  And he was like, “Call me if you’re scared,” and I would always call him, every time.

I always wondered why he came back so different, you know. Like, he’d come back and we’d watch TV again and then a horse would die on this Western and he’d just start bawling. And I’m just like, “What are you doing?”

And he moved to Clear Lake. It’s like, why would you move farther away from me? I already don’t see you and now you’re moving farther away.

He doesn’t really know who I am, as a person. He knows I played basketball, he knows I’m bad at science, and um, he knows … that, um ...

GLORIA ARRIETA-SHERMAN: I wish … that was one thing I could change for you. I wish I could make things different, you know, make a change somehow. Have this thing fall on him, or the chemistry in his brain changes and all of a sudden he wakes up and he’s like, "Oh my gosh, I have three daughters out there."

And it was never really, because your two half-sisters ... and there's nothing I can do. Alls I can do is continue being the kind of mother I am to you, and to try to raise you in a way that's going to help you feel confident about who you are, regardless of the mistakes that he's made, you know. You're the beginning of my story, you know. You're the beginning of my life. You're the one who kind of gave me a chance to do something I never thought I was ever, ever capable of doing. I have a second chance to be a good parent, because of you.  And I couldn't be more proud of you than I am at this moment.

MICHAELA ARRIETA NAVE: I love you, mama.

GLORIA ARRIETA-SHERMAN: I love you too, mi hija.

This piece was edited by Louis Ramos-Ibanez. Michaela Arrieta-Sherman interviewed her mother, Gloria, at the StoryCorps booth at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. Click here to find out how to participate.