Once upon a time, there was a young boy who often enjoyed visiting his grandparents and other relatives during vacations at their ranch in Nueva Leon, Mexico. Most of his time spent on the ranch was not spent inside bored, but rather it was spent in the outdoors with the warming company of his family. Nostalgically recalling the times where he would fish, shoot bee-bee guns, and ride horses at the ranch. At only ten years this same boy was asked by his father if he wants to learn how to drive, the boy, slightly hesitant is thrown behind the wheel of the truck, to learn how to drive for the first time, down the old-long gravel roads of Mexico.

Abdon Garza was born in November of 1996 at Rush Hospital in the city of Chicago, into a loving family with both parents as immigrants from Mexico. His mother was born on a ranch in Nueva Leon, Mexico, and his father was born in a hospital in Monterrey, Mexico. He spent the first few primitive years of his life in Chicago, and at about the age of 8, they relocated to the suburb of Markham. He has two younger siblings, a 21-year-old brother, Turkey, and the youngest sister at age 17, Tonia. The relationship he has with his brother has been very strong ever since they were younger. Turkey says that "As young boys we would always fight, usually beginning as a play fight over something stupid, then escalating to a physical fight." During the interview, he brings up a time where he and his brother were fighting, he cannot remember what it was about exactly, but what he does remember is how his brother had broken a glass bottle of cologne over his head, causing their father to be upset and yell at them.

The most important, and influential person in his life is his father. Ever since he was little his father had been helping shape him, “I am the man I am today because of my father.” He has always been able to depend on his father for whatever it may be that he needs. To Abdon, the most valuable lesson his father has taught him is that you need to work hard for what you achieve in life and that nothing will be handed to you. Going further into it, in order to maintain the lifestyle you want, you have to work for it, you have to get a good job and work hard at it to even make it possible to be able to accomplish any goal. Although he says his father is the most important and influential person in his life, he still loves his mother and has a very close relationship with her. When asked which parent is his favorite, he said, “That’s an impossible question to answer, both have loved me, taught me, and cared for me in their own ways, neither is better than the other.” He told me the saddest moment of his life was when he got a call finding out when his mother was in the hospital, he was scared because his immediate family was unsure of the condition his mother was in. In that moment Abdon had cried, claiming that he never cries, but the thought of his mom not being around scared him deeply. Abdon said to me that he is very family-oriented, his cousin Manny is one of his favorite relatives. Manny has always been there for him no matter what. As a shoulder where he can constantly lean on, and a friend who he has always been able to confide in.

School was never for him. As a child, he had strong beliefs that he was going to go to school and become a very successful lawyer. His mom said, that as a child he would tell all of his aunts, that when he was older he was going to be rich and that he would be able to buy them anything they wanted. "School was unimportant and at times stressful." Feeling as if e he was just sitting there for hours wondering if there was even a reason for him to even be there. In high school he was just “there”, and he passed by with the bare minimum. If there was a homework assignment due, and he had a high enough grade in the class he wouldn’t bother to do it because it wouldn’t affect his grade at all. He said, “There was no real reason that I didn’t like school, it just didn’t seem like it was for me.” Despite the fact he didn’t pursue higher education, he has been working very hard to save money. He has had a variety of jobs, ranging from lawn maintenance, construction, and even at one point during the winter he worked in a junkyard.

Due to the fact he works in so many different places he has many different interesting stories from work. Although he didn’t love working in the junkyard through the winter because he was outside all of the time and it was so cold, and the fact that he often left smelling like car oil. He still enjoyed working there, he found many odd items in the cars. Things like fur coats in duffel bags, weird posters, or cars that seem to appear as if the owner had been living in the back of them. Currently Abdon is working in construction with his uncle and father, doing sewer and water construction. Installing sewer drains, storm drains, and pipes below the streets so that the water can flow freely under the ground. Usually leading out to a river or treatment facilities.

The biggest milestone in his life was realizing that partying and having fun with your friends is not what life's all about. Recalling the time when he first started working, when he would work the entire week and would spend all of his paychecks from that week to drink and have a good time with his friends. He has now come to the realization that spending all of the money gets you nowhere, and won't accomplish you anything. He has gained the insight that he should be using the money to better himself and his life. Rather than on hanging a good time with friends.

As of right now, Abdon says that he has yet to accomplish anything big in his life. Which in the end he was lead to believe this to be false. However, he has smaller accomplishments like waking up and going to work every day and continuing to work hard for the things he wants in life. Hopefully, the first big accomplishment he will achieve in life will be moving out of his parents' house, to a place of his own. Currently, Abdon is working a full-time job in construction, when he’s not working, he enjoys sleeping, driving to the city, spending time with his family, going to the bar with his friends, and in the rest of his free time he enjoys going to his ranch and riding his horse, Prieto. He is a movie fanatic he prefers to watch anything comedic or something with action, he often has comedic quotes memorized to use in any situation to make it more fun. Also, he enjoys listening to many different styles of music, ranging from alternative rock, rap, country, all the way to any type of music in Spanish.

All in all, it can be seen that Abdon really does not feel the need to use a “mask” to hide his true self. Unlike many other people in the world, Abdon feels very comfortable in his own skin. Although he says that he may act a little differently depending on who he is with, Abdon maintains his natural characteristics, outgoing, reliable, funny, and very hard working. He is very passionate about his job, his family, art, and succeeding in the future. He loves to make them laugh which is easily done with his spontaneous and very humorous personality. When you meet Abdon in person, you would see his outgoing personality and his radiating good vibes. His jokes and smile can brighten any room. He really is all about being caring and hard-working, anyone that knows him would say the same. Even though he is only 22 years old, he has more dedication and ambition than anyone else in the world. It is very inspiring to have a friend like Abdon, his drive and energy help motivate me to be better and work hard for the things I want in life. He isn’t just any hard working man, he is very good friend.