I used to have a wonderful Spanish teacher, Ms. Rina Faz, in high school who once told me I speak like I have lived a hundred years. I used to always blurt out my mom’s phrases during class. The best part was she enjoyed hearing them, and we would talk about them in class.

Out of all the phrases my mom says, time and time again, I’d have to say this one is one of my favorites:

“El amor y el interés se fueron al campo un día, y mas pudo el interés que el amor que le tenía.”

          (VERY loosely translated: Love and personal interest took a stroll in through a field one day, the personal interest outweighed the love they shared.)

People and their personal interests is something I always find intriguing. You really find out how much you mean to a person when they’re willing to put you before their own personal/financial gain. When it comes down to making a choice between someone you love and a personal gain/interest how many times will you honestly go with the person you love?

I always appreciated the days Ms. Faz took a moment aside in class to discuss my mom’s phrases or to delve deeper into current events and topics. She was the perfect example of someone who constantly put her personal interests, i.e.-sticking to the planned lesson, aside for her students.

I’ve learned that when you do that, it leads to people loving you for a very long time, longer than those personal interests will ever last.

Victoria Moll-Ramirez is a broadcast journalist based in Atlanta, GA. She is originally from Miami, FL and had the great fortune of being raised by the sassiest, spunkiest, wisest, most hysterical Honduran woman in the world. Victoria’s mother, Bélgica, is 60-years-old, resides in Little Havana (Miami) and enjoys a good margarita accompanied by a heartrending ranchera. Victoria blogs about her mom’s funny and wise sayings on, “In My Mother’s Words.”