REFUGIO, Texas — The talk around the table this week centers around how it can be tough for so many people to get by with plenty of bills and often money getting in the way when it comes to the most important things in life.
It’s a story of struggle and at the same time, plenty of perseverance, even when you don’t have a lot, you can still be grateful for what you do have.
We met Nancy Silva and her husband, Juan, at Taqueria Guadalajara just one day after her father passed away.
“Sorry,” Silva told us as she began to cry. "My daddy passed away yesterday at this time and I wish I could go bury my daddy. I don't see daddy for 21, 22 years.”
When Silva told us about her loss, we realized that sometimes we just need someone to listen, especially during our darkest hours.
"We don't have enough money to go over there and say bye to daddy for the last time,” she said sobbing as her father will be buried in Mexico. “It is hard. It is really hard.”
Silva told us she's lived a life full of hardships and now with this latest death in her family, it’s really taking its toll.
"I am broken,” Nancy said as she continued mourning the loss of her father. “My heart is broke. It's something you have inside, you want to run. You want to fly. But you can't do anything. Anything.”
The harsh reality began settling in that Silva couldn't go to Mexico for the funeral. She simply couldn’t afford it.
Last year, Juan lost his job as an iron worker and ever since, he’s found work here and there, which left Silva to go out and look for work.
She went anywhere she could, including construction sites, offering to serve up some home cooking, all the while feeling an attitude of gratitude.
"I am lucky because there's a lot of people out there, they don't have nothing,” she reminded us. “They don't have anything.”
And that's why having this one meal at Taqueria Guadalajara makes the couple realize things could be so much worse.
They’re thankful for the food whether it be hot or cold. Silva said that it really didn’t matter.
“I know the feeling when you don't have anything to eat,” she told us. “I know the feeling when you don't have the money to pay your bills. and I know the feeling of feeling lonely.”
And with all of these feelings, Silva tells us she's still able to put one foot in front of the other through the power of prayer.
We asked her if she agreed with some people who say the Lord will always provide. She did.
"Thank God,” she reminded us. “Him. God. God. When you feel you're down, the only thing you have to do is talk to God and pray to God and he listens to you.”
We then asked what she would say to people who thought she had a tough life though Silva sees it as others having a tougher life than she does.
"I am lucky,” Silva said smiling. “I am so lucky. Thank God I have my husband. Thank God he has a job. I have my daughter. My son. My son-in-law. My grandbabies. I have three already.”
And to those people who find themselves struggling right now, Silva has this advice. "Believe in God. And be faithful. Because if you don't have no faith, you don't go nowhere.” Adding, “And if I can be able to help somebody, my pleasure.” Adding, “and you keep pushing forward.”
Despite the fact she’s lost her closest relatives and doesn't know if she'll be able to pay the rent next month, she and Juan just keep going. Their journey in life, they say, is far from over.
Not having a lot but at the same time they realize that a lot of people are far worse off than them.
