By Anndy Serrano
One night, as I was watching the Nickelodeon channel, I heard a trumpet sound and saw a family riding a red car over the Golden Gate Bridge. The show’s title “Full House” appeared, and my tradition of watching this program each night began. I have rewatched the series over and over since then, and I have never gotten tired of it. I was devastated when reruns stopped airing, but then I realized that the Mexican community I grew up in had become my own Full House episode.
After watching this family-oriented television “dramedy” all of these years, I’ve come to better appreciate the extended family in which I grew up. The show focused on two best-friends helping their other best-friend, as he raised three girls in a single-parent home. The Godinez, Perez, and Flores families have raised me in a similar way. I have countless memories of being with them; from praying together each Christmas, to singing “Las Mañanitas” at every birthday. There are sweet memories of days when my godmother cared for me, and served me her delicious sopes with frijoles and queso con lechuga. I also warmly remember the summers when I went to the library with my Mexican friends to read our favorite books in English and in Spanish.
The Ecuadorian flag.
Better yet, were those weekends I went to Soundview Park where we had barbecues with the music of Colombian cumbias and Mexican corridas playing in the background. Through these experiences, I learned about my community’s blended Mexican culture, and it became my very own. The tender moments with these different families shaped me into someone who is Ecuadorian by blood, but Mexican at heart.
The Mexican flag.
One of the lyrics in the theme song “Everywhere You Look” from Full House says: “When you’re lost out there and you’re all alone, a light is waiting to carry you home.” I found my guiding light in my community, as they have become my family. They helped me understand how to immerse myself in different cultures, and taught me that family is not limited to people who come from your bloodline. Rather, I came to recognize as “family” the many different people who have supported and loved me for who I actually am. By accepting different people into my life, I have learned to accept myself, and have learned that people from diverse cultural backgrounds can come together and become a family. Full House reflected the importance of such extended families, as well as illustrating the importance of embracing all the people who care for you…a lesson I appreciate to this day.