In the moment...

They come to visit our reading corner, several moms and their children.  I invite them in, explain our corner and they begin to sit and read.  I see a little boy just outside of our carpeted reading corner area near his mom…he curiously looks on.  I approach him:

“Quieres escoger un libro para leer?”  “Do you want to choose a book to read?”

“Es que él no puede leer.” – su mamá  “It’s just that he can’t read.” – his mom

“O, está bien! Es por qué estoy aquí.”  “Oh, it’s okay! That’s why I am here.”

I take his hand and we walk over to the little pond of rubber ducks where he gleefully picks one up to show him the number of which book we will read.

We go and sit next to where his mom is with book number 5, El Patito Feo (The Ugly Duckling).  

Little Freddy is on my lap as I read the Spanish words on the colorful pages…pointing out the pictures and he copies me and points at the ugly duckling himself.

When we finish, I ask if he would like to get another one.  He smiles largely and nods his head as he jumps off my lap, takes my hand and we head back to the duck pond.

When we are back in the chair next to his mom, Freddy on my lap, I begin to read.  I notice that his mom leans in a little more time, so I turn closer towards her and open the book so we can all see.  There we are..all three…reading and sharing the moment.

We visit the duck pond one last time, but do not have time to finish this book.  It is time for them to go and we still need to sign the window which is serving as our guest book.

“Vamos a ir a firmar tu nombre en la ventana.” – yo  “We are going to sign your name on the window.” -me

“Es que él no puede escribir.” – su mamá  “It’s just that he can’t write.” – his mom

“Está bien! Yo puedo ayudar. [a Freddy] Puedes dibujar lo que quieres y después firmaré tu nombre.”  “It’s okay! I can help. [to Freddy] You can draw whatever you want and then I’ll write your name.”

Freddy aproaches the window with the red marker and quietly draws a square.  With a smile he hands the marker to me.  I ask the mother how to spell his name, but she misunderstands me and says her name.  I then assume she wants to sign her name as well and try to hand her the marker to write her name.  She quickly because nervous and says, “no no no” quietly.

She is illiterate.

I write Freddy’s name and his mother’s name, Francisca, on the window.

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I look back…I see 11 smiley, laughing, chatting faces tucked into the back of the van.  11 girls beyond excitement that this Saturday morning we are going to the pool.  The 25 minute ride has no pockets of silence and every molecule of the air is filled with their energy.

We arrive to the pool, but it will not be open for ten minutes.  I believe the longest 10 minutes of these girls’ lives.  Every person that walked near the door was the potential owner opening the pool.

At 10:00 on the dot, I allowed them out of the van and the swarm rushed to the door.

Smiles, laugher, jumping, splashing, playing…all morning.

“Teresa! Mira!”  “Teresa! Look!”

“Teresa! Estoy nadando?”  “Teresa! I’m swimming!”

“Teresa! Ayúdame nadar!”  “Teresa! Help me to swim!”

“Teresa! Teresa! Teresa!”

“Teresa. Cuando vamos a regresar?”  “Teresa. When are we going to come back?”

“Teresa, MUCHAS GRACIAS!!”  “Teresa, THANK YOU SO MUCH!”

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[por teléfono / on the phone] “Es muy importante que todos los líderes están este sábado porque tengo una sorpresa para Uds.”  “It is very important that all the leaders are here this Saturday because I have a surprise for you all.”

I repeated this line to all thirteen of the youth in the leadership group, and the rest of the week all I heard from them when they passed by my office was:

“Y Teresa…la sorpresa? ¿Qué es?”  “And Teresa…the surprise? What is it?”

Saturday afternoon…sitting at the table after just cleaning up after lunch…“Y Teresa..la sorpresa?”

Hands holding their individual wrapped packages labeled with their names…ready to tear the paper as soon as the last name is called.

Smiles and shout out’s as they realize what the package contains.

The table and air around it is soon filled with navy blue as they hold up their personalized shirt to see their own name printed on the back or to show it to someone else at the table.

Smiles.

Half of them have them already have the shirt on before I have the chance to tell them that we’re all going to put them on and take some pictures.

50 pictures later…10 different poses…and I might have one picture where everyone is looking and no one’s eyes are closed.

We end in a circle, standing on the grass, discussing how we are team.  These t-shirts are a visual sign of that, but more importantly the way we work together, communicate and work through the good and the bad together is a sign of that.  Somos un equipo.

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8pm in front of Café Condesa.

Moli comes from the north and Karin from the south.

Maybe it’s pie or hummus or a coke or an empanada over which we catch up on the week or laugh about the randomness of our Pie and Bean Club.

Laughter.

9:30pm enter Las Palmas

I untie my tennis shoes, replace my white socks with black footies, and slip on my dancing heels.

I stand up, a few inches taller than before.  I hand the black plastic bag containing my tennis shoes and my jacket to the doorman who now knows my name and with whom I have an agreement that he will tuck my things away in the cabinet by the door.

We can hear the band warming up with the DJ’ed music in the background as we approach the door to the dance floor…it is empty except for a lingerer or two standing near the wall as it is still early.

Greetings to Julio, our friend and DJ, and the waiters that are nearby.  We find our place.  

The night of salsa will begin.

…..dancing, music, energy, spirit….all night.

1am the last song…the realization that I must get these heels off as soon as possible…goodbyes…contentment.

Ready for the next night.