Amelina: Living in the Moment

Humans of Galveston: Tell us about yourself, Amelina.

Amelina: My name is Amelina Espindora. I was born in 1967 and I’m 54 years old. I’ve been in Galveston about 15 years. I came here after (Hurricane) Ike. I was born in Corpus Christi and left there when I was 21 and lived in Virginia Beach for about 15 years. I came back to Texas to live with my mother in Houston. She had just remarried. I started working at a Family Dollar and Dollar General in Deer Park, opening and closing stores. And that’s what led me to Galveston. The island had taken on about 8 feet of water with Ike. I had to come down to check on the Dollar General and discovered the gentleman who was running it was running it pretty bad. So, I had to take it over (manage it). Since I was commuting from Pasadena, I decided to move here. I lived on Broadway the first few years but then I started getting sick. That’s why I’m here at Gulf Breeze (affordable apartment complex).

Humans of Galveston: What do you like the most about Galveston?

Amelina: I love the beach. We lived in Virginia Beach, right off from where the water is. My husband was in the Navy. We even had a private beach at Dam Neck (Naval) Base. And growing up in Corpus Christi I spent a lot of time around the water. I just love the ocean.

Humans of Galveston: How are things different today than when you were growing up in the 1970s and ‘80s? Do you miss those days?

Amelina: I enjoyed the outdoors – skateboarding, biking and having fun like that. Today, the activities that kids are doing are jumping off bridges and things like that. I loved those times that I lived in. It was really great, and lot of history was going down. And now I like telling that history to my kids because you need to let them know that it wasn’t always like this.

Humans of Galveston: What advice would you give to a 14-year-old you?

Amelina: I’d tell her to don’t try to grow up so fast. Listen to your momma. And just slow it down. Because I was in such a hurry. I’ve done a lot in my life, and I’m very pleased with my life now. Even now, I’m sick and my health is not great, but I’m getting that taken care of. One of the big obstacles that I overcame was going from being an independent woman for so long to having to rely on someone else to take care of me for a little while. I’m getting that (health) taken care of now. I’m living here now at Gulf Breeze, I’ve got my own apartment, and I’m trying to make it back to who I am (health wise). One of the hardest parts is getting my brain to understand that this is my life now, the new norm. I was ready to go out to work and to do more, but I can’t do that.

Humans of Galveston: Once your health is back, what do you see yourself doing next?

Amelina: I’m a day-by-day person. It’s about living here, getting my life back together and helping others. It’s a good community here. I’m ready to have some more grandbabies and be a grandma and not think so hard about things. Just enjoy the life that I have right now.

Humans of Galveston: Tell us about your dog.

Eddie: Whenever I get a chance to paint a portrait of someone who has passed, they can be difficult to do. But there’s always a reward in doing them because you are making a loved one happy. Anytime you can take something from nothing and then get a likeness, and then personality, it’s a huge thing.

Humans of Galveston: How did you get her?

Amelina: It’s an interesting story. I worked at the Storage, Inc. downtown and a gentleman was passing by the night before (Hurricane) Harvey was going to hit. He wanted some information on the storage, and he was selling puppies. I had a black male (dog) and I wanted to get a female, so I told him I’d come and look at them. He was saying that he wanted to sell them for $350 each. So, I went to see him and the time that I went to see him they were putting him out of his apartment. He grabbed a box with three puppies in it – Rosie and two others – and they were very sick. The mom came out and she was totally emaciated. You could see the bones and everything; it was awful. He was getting put out and he had nowhere to go. I told him, because the dogs looked so sick, that I wasn’t going to give him $350 for a dog. And I didn’t feel right leaving those dogs because of the state that they were in and because he was getting put out of his house, I told him, I can’t leave here without them. I said, let me take care of them, let me get them somewhere where they can get help, and he relinquished them to me. I took them to the shelter and they kept the other three dogs, and I kept Rosie. I cleaned her up. It took awhile because she was covered in fleas and crust from where she was losing her hair. And I just fell in love with her. I took her to the vet and gave them money to get her where she needed to be (health wise). It took several months, and this is Rosie (smiles at her). This is the result of her. She’s my best friend. All this medical stuff I’ve been going through, she has been right here with me. She means everything to me. She’s my companion, and she’s what makes me get up in the morning.

Humans of Galveston: What did I not ask you that you would like to share? What else would you like to tell the world?

Amelina: Just be kind to others. Have friends, don’t isolate yourself. That’s the worst thing a person can do is to isolate themselves from life and people all around them. I want all the hatred to go away. There’s a lot of hate. It makes you old, it makes you tired. You should be enjoying life and enjoying others and the differences in everyone.

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Published by Bobby Stanton