Mini Chapter 1

I am not sure I ended up with this American name. The story goes something like this... My mother was pregnant with me as she was living in own home country. As she watched a movie staring Sofia Loren, she decided to call me Loren. Except that she spelled it like this: Lauren. In Spanish, everyone called me Laaaaooren. That was completely fine there. I always thought that my mother should have called me "Lorena" instead. That would have been a lot easier to pronounce in Spanish. I spent my entire childhood trying to figure out which name I was most comfortable with. My mother would correct everyone and say "her name is Lauren. It is pronounced Loren." When I was thirteen and we arrived in Miami, that entire problem went away, for the most part. Spanish speaking people still had a little bit of trouble with my name. My name and my looks suggested to everyone that I was an "American." Blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and named "Lauren." My father loved this as it was his belief that our family should assimilate into the culture and eliminate any hints of our hispanic roots as much and as soon as possible because he saw those as obstacles for our future success.