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My Mexican American Experience John Philip Santos’ Things Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation and Norma Cantu’s Canicula, are two memoirs that illustrate the essence of family and history. As the fourth generation in my family to be born in the United States, I could somewhat relate to the traditions, the stories of the family interactions, and the “growing pains” of maturing. The little I know about Mexican culture, I learned from my maternal grandmother. She taught me “dichos”, herbal cures, and holiday customs. She reminded me of the “viejitas” in Santos’ book. I was constantly being reminded to drink a glass of sugar water for “susto” and being prayed over while being rubbed with an egg for the “evil eye” which was the cause for any ailment from fever and headache to bad moods. I remember being taken to a neighbor for a “sobada”. I was also taken to a family friend for what amounted to a spinal adjustment to cure “empacho” (which thoroughly worked). In reading these two memoirs, I could not comprehend how Santos and Cantu did not tire of being around their extended family members. If I saw my cousins, aunts and uncles once every five years it was too much. Our family gat