Wednesday, December 5

Fourth day of Advent and eve of St. Nicholas.

Advent exercise:

Call, write, send an email, and IM to your family and friends and make peace or just tell them how much they mean to you.

Mom and Dad, words are not enough to tell you how much I owe you. I do not honor you as I should but today is a good day to change that.
Al, we don't talk much, but you are always in my prayers.
Carlos, I know you are trying to find your way back. He is your guide.
Isela, you are an island of calmness in the sea of turmoil that is our family.
Rosie, you've made my faith stronger.
D. you keep me on His Path.
Julian I love you.

Today God loves the world so much that he gives you, he gives me, to love the world, to be his love, his compassion. It is such a beautiful thought for us—and a conviction—that you and I can be that love and compassion.—Mother Teresa

On the road to CHRISTmas:
Julian is relentless. He wants the CHRISTmas tree now. Never mind that we are making a Jesse Tree. He wants a REAL tree. The Hospital across the street has put up the lights on the very large tree in front of the building and he doesn't want to be left behind and above all, he wants to make sure they don't run out. He is convinced that Santa is not going to come to our house if we don't put up a tree.

By the way, We have a 4 day weekend starting tomorrow (Spanish Constitution on the 6th and Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary on the 8th, with the 7th thrown in for good measure) and we are going to my husband's village. I will be out of touch with technology for the better part of the weekend. Nothing but cows, mountains, hopefully snow but I doubt it, maybe the beach and lots of trees. I'll write and entry everyday and post all at once when we come back to civilization. By then, we'll be four days closer to CHRISTmas!!!! Hurray!!!!!

Happy Turkey Day

Oh yes, another Thanksgiving away from Mom's house. I miss this holiday soooooo much. CHRISTmas is CHRISTmas anywhere, because He is everywhere. But Thanksgiving... well, that's strictly US.
I can try duplicating the Thanksgiving dinner, (The first time I attempted here in Barcelona I had so saw off half of the drumstick bones because the 12 lbs. bird did now fit into my small oven), but it's not the same. No cranberries here. No pumpkin pie spice. No brown sugar to make most of the desserts that I love. And, I can never make Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day. I must wait until the following Saturday, as I must work on Thursday.
So I've given up trying to make our Thanksgiving dinner authentic. I simply make turkey, mashed potatoes with gravy and a simple apple pie.
What I will do is go to Mass on Thursday and Saturday and give the Lord thanks for the usual things and some that are not so usual. Here's the rundown:
Him
My son and husband
Family
Friends
Health
Job
My little ones
My coworkers
Internet (I can keep in touch with anybody)
My calling plan (I can call Mom and talk to her for 30 minutes each day)
The newsstand guy (he saves a Martha Stewart Living magazine each month and hard to find trading cards for Julian)
All the podcasting priests
All podcasting Catholics
All Catholic podcasts
...

At the end of the day, each day not just Thanksgiving, what really counts is that we recognize how lucky we are that we have so much to be thankful for.

Sunny So. Cal

I'm home again. I've been here a week and it feels like I never left. Family is always like that, they make transitions simple.

What has been harder to deal with is all the day-to-day craziness. Things that I simply can not understand with my acquired European frame of mind.

Example 1:

Having to justify medical care for all children. Yes, they do better in school. Yes, they are more likely to have better health as adults. Better reason: they are human beings, they should have access to the most basic necessities.

Example 2:

If a non-US citizen marries a US citizen, they must return to their country of origin for an "unspecified" period of time. A German (no job, no education)woman married to a guy from Irvine is back in the US in a few weeks. A Mexican guy (PhD student, working at the university) married to a Chicana has been in Mexico for almost two years. Hmmmmmm, makes you think.

Example 3:

The whole immigration craziness. 'Nuff said.

But other than that, the OC is a nice place to visit...

Going Home

The upcoming trip to see my family is taking up most of my time. Non-existent time. End of trimester is always a tricky time for me. What is taking up most of my time is not the usual preparation. That's the easy part. One change of clothes, my favorite shoes, Barça t-shirts to give away. Mom's favorite bread sticks and assorted gift items for my sisters. No, that's not the problem.
The problem is the linguistic border that must be crossed in order to retain my dignity. Yes, being laughed at (not a blaring in your face haha. More of a snicker under the breath, but it's there. They love me too much to let out a big whooping laugh) is not one of my passions.
So words such as coche, conducir, coger(especially this one) must be put into a draw in my cluttered brain and I must drag out carro, manejar, agarrar. It's not that they don't understand the words, but they are just not used. This of course is just the tip of the linguistic iceberg. They here me, they somewhat understand me, but they know that their daughter/sister is not the same. She can't be. She's found new places to be displaced in. She's found new ways of being different.
I so envy my little sister. She doesn't question being Mexican, she does not question being American. She just is. Her big sister can't be either anymore.
Reading this, there may be tinge of regret mixed in with these words. There probably is. It doesn't bother me, got used to the constant flux of things in my life. Just going back to a universe where things have been the same for a long time and there's a bit of envy on my part. Just want my worlds to stop moving so I can enjoy them for a while.