Childhood Memories, Family Bonds & Life Lessons with Marisol

Marisol joins Matt Reyna on Episode 6 of Anything and Everything to share her journey from growing up in Mercedes, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley to building her life in San Antonio. From childhood memories in Mexico and South Texas, to family struggles, motherhood, basketball, lifelong friendships, and dreaming beyond small-town life—this episode is full of nostalgia, laughter, and meaningful perspective on how our upbringing shapes who we become.

🎙️ In this episode:
• Marisol’s childhood in Mercedes, Texas
• Growing up between Mexico and South Texas
• Life in the Rio Grande Valley
• Family dynamics and sibling relationships
• Wild teenage memories from border-town life
• Basketball, dance, and high school passions
• Raising kids and watching them grow
• Why some people leave small towns—and others stay
• Dreams of studying fashion abroad
• Music nostalgia from Selena to Bone Thugs

🧠 What you'll learn:
• How childhood environments shape adult ambition
• The power of family bonds and lifelong friendships
• Why some people naturally crave growth and change
• Reflections on parenting and raising strong kids
• How culture, music, and memories connect generations
• The importance of chasing a bigger vision for your life

⏱️ CHAPTERS / TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro & 100 Subscribers Celebration
00:37 Meeting Marisol
00:47 Born in Mexico, Raised in Texas
01:39 Growing Up in Mercedes, Texas
03:04 Childhood Friendships & Memories
03:48 What Kind of Kid Was Marisol?
04:32 Teenage Adventures in Border Town Life
05:59 Basketball, Dance & High School Years
06:45 Parenting & Watching Kids Grow
08:16 Leaving Small Town Life Behind
10:54 Dreams of Studying Fashion Abroad
11:39 Feeling Different Growing Up
12:23 Novelas & Childhood Nostalgia
13:23 Music That Shaped Their Lives
15:17 Bone Thugs, Old School Music & Memories

📢 About the Podcast
Anything and Everything with Matt Reyna is a podcast built around real conversations, life lessons, personal stories, and perspectives that shape who we are. From deep discussions to funny memories, Matt creates a space where authenticity always comes first.

📌 Connect With Matt Reyna
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattreyna2023/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matt.reyna.12
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mattreynaspodcast

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Episode six, guys, of Anything and Everything with Matt Reina. I got my lovely friend Marisol here. Known each other forever. Thank you for stopping by. Oh, you know what, guys? We're at 100 subscribers right now.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Woo!

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much for that. Hey Xaire, you know something funny. We had I was like at 103, and then it went down to like 101. So I was I was uh like no no I was like yeah, somebody was like, oh fuck this guy.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

I mean they typically that would happen. Not everyone's gonna like you, man. I guess so. Yeah, I guess that's that's part of it. Everybody's take already.

SPEAKER_01 0:37

Your first time here, so let's start at the beginning. Where are you from? Well, I mean, we're all is that a loaded question?

SPEAKER_00 0:47

Well, the thing is, I was born in Mexico and then I came to the U.S. when I was five. So I'm actually from South Texas. San Antonio is now South Texas people. They're still a little bit further down, which is called the RGV, the Rio Grande Valley.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Ah, oh, that's what you were telling me.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

You're like, what's our RGV?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

I'm like, I thought it was the gang you were in. I was like, what? You're part of the RGV. Damn, I didn't even know.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Matt, there is, you know, other places, you know, not just San Antonio. There's other places. There's not.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

It I tell people too, I'm from the part of the south of the south. I said, I'm from Palo Alto, which is that's it. There's no other south than that. And people are like, Yeah, I'm from the South side. I'm like, There's other places, Matt. That's my south side. It's funny too because Drew always says, I'm more south side, I'm more south than you. And I'm like, that's a different South. Anyway.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Okay, so the RGV, what uh what city?

SPEAKER_00 1:42

Mercedes, Texas.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Damn it, that's what it was.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

You thought it was Eagle Pass, though.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Are they are they in completely different areas?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Okay, we need we need a map for Matt, please.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Gotcha. So um okay. So uh coming to Texas when you were five, do you have a lot of memories uh for Mexico?

SPEAKER_00 2:04

Um, yes, because I would go back and forth. Um, my family's from Monterrey, so I go over there a lot. I still do. I haven't I think the last time I was there was about two months ago, but I go all the time.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

Gotcha. Gotcha. Okay. So then um coming to Texas, how long was were you in you went to school, middle school, high school in Mercedes? Gotcha. Cool. What was that?

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Um honestly what was that like? I mean, I am from the 80s, so grew up there in the 90s in early 2000s.

SPEAKER_01 2:42

Were you a 90s kid like me? How far apart are we? Uh no, I'm 88. You're 1990s.

SPEAKER_00 2:51

85.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

85. Oh, okay, cool. Y'all, you're right in the right in the middle of me and my brother. He's 83, 85, 88. Gotcha. No, but so anyway, growing up in the 90s in Mercedes, Texas, describe that.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

It was fun. I mean, it was, you know, we would play outside. Um, I would be in my um, you know, patines. I don't know if you know what that is. Skateboard, or you know, we would be on our uh rollerblades. Um, so I would always be outside. We would never be inside.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

I mean, I I'm that's how I met my one of my really close friends, Margie. Um, no, not Mama Margie, but my friend Margie and her family, they took me in. To tell you this, that when I had Mariel, my my daughter, her mom took care of Marielle when she was like three months old. Wow. And so she was one.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Hmm.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

So we're very, very close. So I still have my friends from back home, you know.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

What kind of a kid would you say you were? Were you a great kid, uh studious kid? Were you traviesta kid?

SPEAKER_00 3:55

I think I was in the middle.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Oh yeah?

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

How many siblings?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

I have two. Okay. Two brothers. So I have an older brother and a younger brother.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Ah, you're in the middle.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Just like my sister. She's got my my brother. Um, she's in the middle, and I'm the youngest.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

So I had a baby.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

So then um, oh, you so you had a older and a younger?

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Yes, my brother is seven years older, and my younger brother is only we're almost almost a year apart.

SPEAKER_01 4:24

Cool. And y'all got along?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

Oh, yeah. Both of them. So to this day too.

SPEAKER_01 4:27

Everybody's room.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

Okay, we're very, very close.

SPEAKER_01 4:31

That's good.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Um, but yeah, as a kid, I think I was in the middle because um, so my parents separated, so I uh my dad was a strict one. So when he was no longer at the house, I was like, I'm gonna have sleepovers at my friend's house. Um, and then as I got older in high school, I mean, we're a border town, so we literally have the border like 10 minutes from Mercedes. So we would cross like walking, day drink out there.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Damn. How old were you at that time?

SPEAKER_00 5:05

15, 16 years old. I know. I'm like, oh my god, I would kill my kids.

SPEAKER_01 5:10

But that's just the way that it was back then, right? Yes, that was the norm.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

And I mean, honestly, that's scary now that I think about it.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

I mean, especially with kids now, you know. Yes, like uh, I mean, your son is 18. So if he were doing something like that right now, what would what would you I would panic?

SPEAKER_00 5:30

I'd be like, cabron. No, but honestly, now that you know, back then we wouldn't have you know locations that we can check location or any of that. So I would just tell my mom, hey mom, I'm gonna be at Margie's house. We're gonna have a sleepover. We would go to clubs over there. Damn. It was it was wild.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

Best times, best times ever.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

No, you know, right? Belly to belly, all these other clubs. It's every Saturday we would go and it was it was bad.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

Wow. Okay, okay. So uh during high school, like what were you into? Were you uh into sports? Were you into yes?

SPEAKER_00 6:05

I played basketball, Matt, and I played and I was in dance.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Oh yeah?

SPEAKER_00 6:10

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

We were supposed to get you on that three-on-three, and then somebody doesn't go to the runs. So I don't know. I don't I really don't know if you could hoop or not.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

I really I don't know. I think I'll shoot like with the leg up and everything.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Your daughter plays though, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Yes, she played um, she played all through middle school. She went varsity too. So they went pretty far when she was in um her um what's it called? Not her freshman year, her senior year.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Um they went pretty far, but um, that's a hard school to what school is that? Brennan High School.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Oh, yeah, yeah. There's a lot of competition out there.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yeah, my son made freshman year and then the his sophomore year, he didn't make it. Um, but then he kind of like stopped. He wasn't really he wasn't like Mariel. Mariel really had a passion for it. Chris and was just like, he liked it, but it wasn't like which one do you think takes after you more? Ooh, that's a good question.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Or it's just different characteristics, different traits.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Yeah, I think both do, to be honest. I I Mariel, like, oh my god, she is she's tough. She's not we're not the same, but in the best way, she's I think she's better. Yeah, she's very tough. Um, she man, she loves hard. Like her brother is her everything. Wow, they're so close. Marielle and Cristiana.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Just them too, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 7:32

No more. I'm no, I'm serious, Matt. There's no more kids.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Hey, I don't blame you. Yeah, it's crazy too, because all of my friends, like y'all, everybody, or y'all's kids are already in high school. Some of them are already going to college.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

And right.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

I just have leche.

SPEAKER_00 7:48

So you just have leche?

SPEAKER_01 7:50

That's it, man. And I'm like, who's my who are my kids gonna grow up with? And it's funny too, because I always have this.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

If you guys don't know, that's a dog.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Oh, yeah, that's my dog. That's my dog, yeah. You know how old leche is? He's 13 years old, man. No way. I had him, I think, oh yeah, no, before I met you, because uh yeah, I was how how long has it been?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

Eight, eight years, seven years that I've been?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

No, man, I was at Armadillo. So oh yeah, well, yeah, about 10 years. Something like that. We're gonna get into that. Okay, but let's go back. Um, tell me, you know, Mercedes, Texas. Was the goal and the aspiration always to come to San Antonio? No. Or what were you thinking you were gonna do? What were the plans? Were you gonna go to college?

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Actually, yeah. Um, I actually wanted to go to Europe and study out there.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Okay, so I'm gonna get into this later. But you always so you've always had the travel buggy. Yes. Gotcha. We're gonna get into that too. But okay, tell me the plans. It was gonna you were gonna go to so you were gonna go study abroad?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Um, my mom would always say, Why do you want to go so far? I'm like, I don't know. Just I just always have um, is it too close? I mean too far.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yeah, I see, yeah, that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 9:07

Oh so I don't know, I've always had that wanting to leave, didn't want to be you think it's because it's such a small town? Maybe, but you know it's funny, a lot of people that are from small towns, they stay.

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

You know, most of my friends, like my close friends, they're still there.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Really?

SPEAKER_00 9:27

Yeah, I'm like, come to San Antonio, and mind you, San Antonio's only four hours.

SPEAKER_01 9:31

Gotcha. Is the goal and the aspiration to come to San Antonio? Like for everybody over there? No, no, like everybody over there, they want to come to San Antonio because I I uh run into a lot of people from you know Laredo, Eagle Pass, whatever, and they're like, Oh, everybody just wants to pack up and move to San Antonio. Maybe now Austin. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

Maybe the thought, but they don't do it. You know, they don't get out. And for me, I was I didn't ever see myself in Mercedes or in the valley period. Just that was but my all my family's still there. I mean, my brother, my older brother and my mom. And um, my brother um has a house here, my younger brother. He's been here maybe about six years. Okay. Um, but he goes back and forth because he built out there in the valley.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_00 10:19

But um, so yeah, so I really never had a lot of family here, but I felt like it was still good, like a good distance.

SPEAKER_01 10:27

I would like a buffer.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

Yeah, like I would to the point where I would miss my family. I want to go back. I don't go as much only because man, that drive is so boring. I bet it's so boring. I hate it. I mean, maybe going is not as bad, but coming back, it's like, man, four hours seems like forever. I try to like speed, I have a heavy foot.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

No tickets.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Okay. Ever?

SPEAKER_00 10:52

No. I mean, yes, no, yes.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Um, okay, so you were gonna go to c college or um out abroad. What ended up happening? What were you gonna study?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

It was gonna be fashion.

SPEAKER_01 11:06

Hey, fashion. I think you're just copying Selena's story. It's like you were in a small, small Texas town. No, um you look up at the stars with your sister every day.

SPEAKER_00 11:19

I maybe. Um no, but seriously, I don't know. Like, like I said, I've always wanted to, I guess, explore. I don't know. Maybe it was the movies thing. Like I would see movies and they that would inspire me. Um, my family was always like, she's weird, you know.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Really?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah, like ta loca, like, but in the best way.

SPEAKER_01 11:43

Well, where do you think you get these aspirations from? Because there's a lot of things that I was born with, and I'm like, Yeah, I always get mystic with my stuff. I I believe in you know, previous lives and I believe in things like that, right? Um, where do you think you were born? Like, or or where do you think you got these things? Or was it like a family member? Was it a friend? Was it anybody? Or you're just born with the aspiration to just go? Where do you think that comes from?

SPEAKER_00 12:08

I don't know. I don't honestly, that's a good question. I don't never thought about it really. Um, for me, it was just like I said, maybe novelas or movies. I don't know. I grew up watching novelas, you know, with my mom and my guy.

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Marimar?

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Marima.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

My mom would watch that.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

You're supposed to say ow!

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Oh, yeah. Which one uh was the one Welita uh mom and Julie used to watch?

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Oh, you need to sing that one. Go, you know it. It's mujeres. Un camin.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

For sure. Yeah. Uh who was in that one?

SPEAKER_00 12:45

It was uh Laura Leon. Hello.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Oh yeah, it was Laura Laura.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Laura Leon.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

No, the guy.

SPEAKER_00 12:51

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

The main guy.

SPEAKER_00 12:53

Eric Estrada.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

There was an Eric Estrada, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Eric Estrada.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

See, he was on the uh on the motorcycle, right?

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

I'm telling you, man.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

That was bunny.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Yeah, that's throwback, man. Do people know that right now? People don't know what we're talking about, right? I was way too old. Yeah, in my other uh in my other uh podcast, we were talking about, you know, Airwolf, Ninja Turtles, like stuff like that from the 80s, and I was like, people don't know what we're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

You know, my kids, my kids are actually pretty good, I guess because you know, as well.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

Did you have the influence on them?

SPEAKER_00 13:24

I think so, yeah. My Marielle loves like early 2000s, '99, like Usher and like RB. And she would play it, and some of her friends, like we would all hang out, and she would play it in her car, and her friends are like, Who's that singing? And we're like, get out.

SPEAKER_01 13:43

Did you see my um my story um yesterday? I was listening to disco.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Oh.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Um, my mom, I listened to disco by myself. Like, I don't even listen to it with my brothers in the car, but I listened to it because I know nobody likes it, you know what I'm saying? No, so I it I I just jammed to it by myself. It it reminds me of mom, you like big time. So if if I if I think about my mom or something like that, I'll put on something that reminds me of her. If I think about my dad, I'll put on like classic rock. You know what I'm saying? So that always kind of takes me back.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Yeah, I don't know. My mom listened to a lot of Luis Miguel, uh Juan Gabriel, Los Bukies, if you know, you know. Um yeah. Not so much. I mean, yeah, of course she loves Selena, right? Who doesn't love Selena? Um Grupo Mas.

SPEAKER_01 14:36

Okay. All those my mom was like disco. Like she was real, oh man, so I didn't get into it with my other uh with my friend because we were talking about how I got into metal, which I am I'm into now, you know, and that's like the predominant like genre of music that I listen to. Rock and roll, metal, um, alternative. But my mom, she was into like disco, um, motown, you know, earth, wind, and fire. Um Michael Jackson.

SPEAKER_00 15:03

Oh man, it's I mean Michael Jackson, uh it's the best, man.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

It's the best. Al Green, yes, um, Stevie Wonder, yes, all of that stuff, man. I love it. So it kind of gave me like a this balance. So I like kind of like the groove of that, but at the same time, I like everything else.

SPEAKER_00 15:17

And then this dude, he got me into like both thugs in harmony, yeah, like yeah, yeah, Big E.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Same with my brother.

SPEAKER_00 15:25

I think my older brother was at influence on the biggest. At that time, right? Yes. And I had a neighbor, her name, and we became really good friends. So we would say we were cousins, but we really weren't. Um, shout out to Belle. Um, I love her and her family. Her mother became my mom's best friend. That's how happens. You know, you get your kids' moms, like you're their friends' mom, you end up being best friends. For example, my friend Ivy, the reason why we're really good friends right now is because our kids went to school and they went to the same classroom. I think it was third grade. So I've known her since I moved to the neighborhood because of that. And we became really good friends till this day. But yeah, that's how it happened. So, Belle, it's funny, she introduced me to Bone.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Whoa.

SPEAKER_00 16:12

She probably doesn't remember, but she really did. Oh my god, she would listen to it every day, you guys.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Like, I don't think people understand how dope they are and how dope they were.

SPEAKER_00 16:24

Oh, so they're on the And Sol and Pepper, Sol and Pepper too. Oh, see, I'm too Mexicana, but she introduced me to all of that.

SPEAKER_01 16:31

Okay. There's hip hop that's just a little before my time. Like um, like Heavy D, Heavy D and the Boys, The Fat Boy, Salt and Pepper, MC Light, all of that stuff is just a little before my time. I'm like Nas, like 92, and up. Like that's that's my stuff. Wu Tang and Bob Deep, all of that stuff.