I am forbidden to give up.

March has been a difficult month. Sales at my bakery are down and price inflation cuts into the purchasing power of my customers. The pandemic makes it difficult to move around the city, as a consequence I have had to buy supplies at higher prices and reduce the percentage of profit. This month has been mentally exhausting for me. But without a doubt, what affects me the most is my mother's health.

My mother worked for more than 25 years in the national telephone company, her job consisted of designing and supervising projects of fiber optic communication lines throughout the western region of Venezuela. For this reason I travel to many places in my country, many kilometers on the road affected his spine due to his weight, many years ago he had 2 herniated discs, the doctor indicated that he should have surgery or lose weight and learn to live with it. She opted for the second option, she was always afraid of the operation. From time to time, she would inject herself with a pain reliever. That drug today is very expensive for us. My mother has been in her bed for a month without being able to move except to the bathroom, I have only been able to buy pills and a single injection. I have not been able to take her to a doctor directly and she is afraid to go for a possible operation. After a month in bed, she has been able to walk to the living room and sit on the PC at times, in pain, but unlike at the beginning it is progress.

However, this does not take away the anguish of knowing that I should take her to the doctor or that the pain that she has in bed occurs again. For this I cannot give up, I must be financially stable so that my mother can live calmly, because deep down I know that she does not want me to spend my money on her health, but how do you ask me to do that? I'll do whatever I have to do to make her okay. My professional dream is to have a successful bakery chain, and to make money come back from being a worry at all. I must admit how exhausting this situation is, it has made me think about leaving the bakery while my mother recovers, but this is not the solution to anything. I will continue working ...

Despite how tough this month is, I have added a new bakery item for sale. It is a bread widely consumed in Venezuelan breakfasts, "Cachito" is its name, it is a semi-sweet dough bread, very soft and stuffed with ham. I put them up for sale once a week and they have been very receptive. The objective is still to recover my mother's car, and now it becomes indispensable to be able to transfer her to any place she requires. Also, it would help me increase sales outside my area, since until now we distribute the bread on foot. I am forbidden to give up, my desires to live are getting bigger, I thank everyone who has always supported me and continues to do so.