ador. Juan Salvador and Lupe were destined to find each other. Later Juan and Lupe would marry and have a family of their own. Both families emphasis the importance of family. In this sense family is defined as your immediate family consisting of your parents, brother (s) and/or sister (s). "No man, no matter how wonderful, is to be put before a women's first loyalty, which is her family. So understand you're no child, and you first loyalty is to your brother and sister and me-la familia", Dona Guadalupe saying this to Lupe (p. 42). Lupe's first love was the Colonel who was fighting in the Revolution. Everyone in the box canyon believed that the Colonel would steal their gold mine and give it to the Americans. Lupe loved this man with all her heart and couldn't believe that anyone thought he would do such a thing to hurt the people of Mexico. And Dona Guadalupe had to tell her that her first loyalty should be to her family and it didn't revolve around the man you love. The goal of both families was to one day see their children be married and have children of their own. The importance of religion and spiritualism is what held these families together through all they had to endure. Dona Margarita once told Juan Salvador, "Do you really think God stopped talking to us, His people, with the Jews and the Bible. Oh, no mi hijito, God lives and He still Loves to talk, I tell you. All you have to do is look around and open you eyes and you'll see his greatness everywhere-the miracles of life, la vida (p. xxii)." In believing and feeling so close to God they would speak to God on a daily basis just as if he was their friend right next to them. And the way that God would respond to them was in a form of a miracle. These miracles allowed them to deal with the world around them. And they viewed life as a miracle in its self. The women were the center of the home and the family. Sometimes the women would have to raise their ch...
