“Slow down. Men don’t like women who are smarter than them. And if you want to one day find a husband- you better slow down.”

A few days ago, as I walked the halls of my alma mater – DePaul University – those words rung in my head. A little over twenty years ago, my mother had spoken them to me.

Before jumping to conclusions and judging my mom, who loved me dearly, allow me to explain.

After serving in WW2, my mother’s father returned to the pueblos of Puerto Rico. There he met my grandmother – who at age 14 was eighteen years younger than him. He married her shortly thereafter. After their second child was born, they moved to Chicago and settled in the Back of the Yards neighborhood.

My mother was the fourth child of seven in her family.  She had three older siblings –…