I barely know anything about both sides of my family but today at a family gathering, some stories were told and made me think about them a lot. I'm currently looking things up to see if I can find connections.

My dad's side, the side I hardly know anything about, was the one that interested me the most. I was told that side of my family basically stared the whole drug trafficking in the early 1900s and smuggling alcohol into the US to the major cities during the Prohibition era. Al Capone's name was even thrown in a couple times but I doubt they had anything to do with him but who knows cause I sure as hell don't. There were also some issues with the land my family had owned and had to defend it from other people in Mexico but eventually moved to Texas, and that's probably why my great grandpa died at young age. He only lived to be around 30 years old whereas my great grandma lived longer and raised the kids by herself.

Then things started to hit closer to home. My dad was crazy when he was younger and when he was coming home one time after being high out of his mind, one of his uncles had shot at him. Thankfully my dad wasn't hit but my brother told me that years later at a gathering, he had never seen my dad so nervous near his uncles and avoided them at all costs. All those uncles are dead now I think.

My grandpa from my dad's side is 95 and I hardly know anything about him, not even my dad knows everything about my grandpa. The stories I've heard are just little ones. It's said that my grandpa when he was younger was left in the wilderness which kind of adds up to when they had to get away from Mexico all those years ago. Hearing all this changed my view towards him, like what if he's killed someone back then when trying to get away? My dad also told us that if we were to go to Mexico for any reason, not to tell anyone our last name when we go there. Crazy shit.

Being 95 years old, my grandpa could be gone any day now and I hope he's willing to share more of his life stories to someone before he passes.

So yeah, a bunch of shady shit back then that I didn't until now. The Family Reunion this year will be interesting I think.

Why does your last name matter, isn't everyone named Rodriguez anyway.

Think it has something to do with people there thinking you're related to a certain group just because of your last name. I don't know though, I don't plan on going and finding out for myself.