Isn't She Lovely?
It is 7:57 a.m. which means my BFF, my comadre and road dogg por vida is having her baby. This is Maria bringing Seleste into the world. I am anxious to see the baby girl and see if she will have a full head of curly locks like the premonition dream or have little to no hair like her sister, Katelyn.
Maria and I are almost polar opposites in many ways. She is quiet and reserved and if you know me than you know it is generally hard to get me to shut-up. She thinks with her heart where I use statistics to guide my decisions. She is faithful where I am flaky, and she has been destined for motherhood since I met her at age 11.
7th grade without a freakin' clue. We met in chorus along with several other BFF's that I am still close with today. We thought we were cholas for about 4 hours. I can say with certainty that neither of us were blossoming during those awkward 2 years of Junior High. Some of us thought we were so cool to be "Peer Leaders" which I think, at the time, meant we were supposed to be peer counselors. All any of us remember is the trip to Disneyland with hotel stay. I certainly never counseled anyone and, if I did, I apologize. I was a mess.
One thing Maria and I both had in common was that we had scary dads. By scary that means friends rarely came to the door to ask if we could come out and do all the dumb stuff kids in middle school do. Y'know, like trying to meet boys or smokin' the dope. That's what parents say "smokin' the dope". They always think you are smokin the dope, even if you've never smoked the dope.
Our dads were both conservative and asked about a trillion questions before we could go somewhere. Maybe this was the reason we were allowed at one anothers' houses. Like scary dad telepathy with one another. We would hang out and talk about who-knows-what. We would get nervous for our chorus recitals where we had to wear our green "Imperial" t-shirts with white pants. Always the same outfit. We thought we were hot chet on the "stage" at the Montclair Plaza. We were probably as delusional then as we are now. Except now being delusional is a.k.a "fabulous".
It was with Maria that I enjoyed my first wine cooler. Seagram's?
Likely.
We were 12 or 13 at the time "partying" at a friend's sisters house. Partying then, for us, was pretty innocent. It meant 3 or 4 of us shared a wine cooler and probably didn't even enjoy it very much. Then the cop came.... and we panicked and thought we were in huge trouble, and then the cop stripped for us. It was pretty mortifying and the older sister and her friend thought it was the funniest thing ever watching us crouching in corners away from Hispano-Fabio's crotch. We were pre-teens with parents that didn't let us grow up too fast, so we were pretty horrified.
Innocence went out the window when we dropped off a very drunk Maria. I was supposed to sleep over that night- my alibi for the evening "hanging out with Maria". When her dad saw the state of her, ummm, she was in trouble. I didn't see her for a while and I wasn't allowed over for a while. Fortunately, he has since forgiven me for being her enabler and again engages me in Spanglish conversations, always asking when I'm "going to have the babies."
We went to high school together and shared our wardrobes from the thrift stores. We ate the nastiest high school food together on the lawn of C-High and were in Student Council. We both started our first jobs in fast food joints. I was at Del Taco, she was at Burger King. In our later years we carpooled to college, and moved up in our food "careers" by serving tables- I was at Bullwinkles' and later, Mimi's, she was a faithful employee at Don Jose's- my dad's favorite restaurant that he liked to call "Don Josies". It was at Don Josies that I enjoyed a dinner with my parents for my 21st birthday. Just the 3 of us, on what would be the last birthday dinner I would ever share with my father. Maria served us and, as according to the law books of 21st birthday celebrations, she brought me a shot. I think it was a buttery nipple, or something else that, even at 21, I felt was a bit too rsique to devour in front of my not-so-scary-anymore daddy. With red face, I sipped it and pretended it was horrible, so that my parents would not think I was a professional. Maria thought it was funny to embarass me in front of my parents. That was my 21st birthday surrounded by 3 of my favorite people.
It was 3 months later that I called Maria from the floor of Kaiser hospital at 6 a.m. to tell her my father was dying, and she came to sit with me and cry with me. A week later, she sat near me at his funeral. A few months later she called me in San Diego to tell me she was pregnant with her first baby. We laughed when she said she was glad she wouldn't have to tell my father because it would make her nervous.
She was having her first baby girl. Now, she is having her last baby girl (or so she says.... =)
Seleste is likely opening her bright brown or blue eyes at this very moment. She might be screaming her head off at the bright lights of a very well-scrubbed hospital room. I will hear the story tomorrow when I visit her and her mom along with a group of close-knit girlfriends that Maria and I know from high school. We will give her today with her baby girl and meds. We will give the baby girl time to relax with her aunts, uncles, gramdmothers and one not-so-scary grandpa.
Maria and I are almost polar opposites in many ways. She is quiet and reserved and if you know me than you know it is generally hard to get me to shut-up. She thinks with her heart where I use statistics to guide my decisions. She is faithful where I am flaky, and she has been destined for motherhood since I met her at age 11.
7th grade without a freakin' clue. We met in chorus along with several other BFF's that I am still close with today. We thought we were cholas for about 4 hours. I can say with certainty that neither of us were blossoming during those awkward 2 years of Junior High. Some of us thought we were so cool to be "Peer Leaders" which I think, at the time, meant we were supposed to be peer counselors. All any of us remember is the trip to Disneyland with hotel stay. I certainly never counseled anyone and, if I did, I apologize. I was a mess.
One thing Maria and I both had in common was that we had scary dads. By scary that means friends rarely came to the door to ask if we could come out and do all the dumb stuff kids in middle school do. Y'know, like trying to meet boys or smokin' the dope. That's what parents say "smokin' the dope". They always think you are smokin the dope, even if you've never smoked the dope.
Our dads were both conservative and asked about a trillion questions before we could go somewhere. Maybe this was the reason we were allowed at one anothers' houses. Like scary dad telepathy with one another. We would hang out and talk about who-knows-what. We would get nervous for our chorus recitals where we had to wear our green "Imperial" t-shirts with white pants. Always the same outfit. We thought we were hot chet on the "stage" at the Montclair Plaza. We were probably as delusional then as we are now. Except now being delusional is a.k.a "fabulous".
It was with Maria that I enjoyed my first wine cooler. Seagram's?
Likely.
We were 12 or 13 at the time "partying" at a friend's sisters house. Partying then, for us, was pretty innocent. It meant 3 or 4 of us shared a wine cooler and probably didn't even enjoy it very much. Then the cop came.... and we panicked and thought we were in huge trouble, and then the cop stripped for us. It was pretty mortifying and the older sister and her friend thought it was the funniest thing ever watching us crouching in corners away from Hispano-Fabio's crotch. We were pre-teens with parents that didn't let us grow up too fast, so we were pretty horrified.
Innocence went out the window when we dropped off a very drunk Maria. I was supposed to sleep over that night- my alibi for the evening "hanging out with Maria". When her dad saw the state of her, ummm, she was in trouble. I didn't see her for a while and I wasn't allowed over for a while. Fortunately, he has since forgiven me for being her enabler and again engages me in Spanglish conversations, always asking when I'm "going to have the babies."
We went to high school together and shared our wardrobes from the thrift stores. We ate the nastiest high school food together on the lawn of C-High and were in Student Council. We both started our first jobs in fast food joints. I was at Del Taco, she was at Burger King. In our later years we carpooled to college, and moved up in our food "careers" by serving tables- I was at Bullwinkles' and later, Mimi's, she was a faithful employee at Don Jose's- my dad's favorite restaurant that he liked to call "Don Josies". It was at Don Josies that I enjoyed a dinner with my parents for my 21st birthday. Just the 3 of us, on what would be the last birthday dinner I would ever share with my father. Maria served us and, as according to the law books of 21st birthday celebrations, she brought me a shot. I think it was a buttery nipple, or something else that, even at 21, I felt was a bit too rsique to devour in front of my not-so-scary-anymore daddy. With red face, I sipped it and pretended it was horrible, so that my parents would not think I was a professional. Maria thought it was funny to embarass me in front of my parents. That was my 21st birthday surrounded by 3 of my favorite people.
It was 3 months later that I called Maria from the floor of Kaiser hospital at 6 a.m. to tell her my father was dying, and she came to sit with me and cry with me. A week later, she sat near me at his funeral. A few months later she called me in San Diego to tell me she was pregnant with her first baby. We laughed when she said she was glad she wouldn't have to tell my father because it would make her nervous.
She was having her first baby girl. Now, she is having her last baby girl (or so she says.... =)
Seleste is likely opening her bright brown or blue eyes at this very moment. She might be screaming her head off at the bright lights of a very well-scrubbed hospital room. I will hear the story tomorrow when I visit her and her mom along with a group of close-knit girlfriends that Maria and I know from high school. We will give her today with her baby girl and meds. We will give the baby girl time to relax with her aunts, uncles, gramdmothers and one not-so-scary grandpa.
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