Luz
Luz (friends call her Luzy) just graduated from an ACE K-5 school this past spring, “but that’s not the end of the story” says her principal. “Luzy is the most proficient bi-lingual speaker in our school - ever. She speaks only Spanish at home, but you would have never known that English was not her native language. She reads voraciously at an eleventh grade level. Reading is actually her escape. Let’s just say she has stresses in her life.”
Luz is the youngest of four sisters. The older three have been diagnosed with clinical depression, as has their mother. When mom is stable, she gets Luz to school on time, but then mom is not always stable.
Grandma lives in the house, but is so feeble that she would not be able to move fast enough to intervene for the oldest daughter who is on constant suicide watch, so that responsibility often falls to ten year old Luz.
In the midst of this, Luzy anchors the family with her consistently bright and thoughtful demeanor. “On graduation day,” continues her principal, “mom was scheduled to give a speech to our board but was so entirely overcome with gratitude that Luzy had to finish the speech for her.”
It’s probably no surprise that Luz wants to be a psychiatrist someday.
