The Day I Knew

I sat on a couch in a house outside of Mexico City watching the influx of various family members through the front door. I greeted everyone as best as I could with my limited Spanish. I tried to stay quiet and only speak when spoken to – mainly because my Spanish was more horrific than Hannibal Lecter.

As everyone else greeted each other and chatted (and I now know – gossiped), I just watched. Occasionally the volumes reached heights louder than my dad’s normal speaking voice. I could make out a word or two within each conversational pocket. But mostly I felt very ill-at-ease.

The day progressed and the whole family began to play Charades. (I didn’t join in because I had no idea what people were saying as it was – I really didn’t understand the language of clucking which is what most of it sounded like to me with all the various people’s tones and inflections circling around my ears.) The older people in the family played against the younger people. My husband was the oldest of the youngest group and the key to winning was to get each team to guess as many items as possible. The group with the winning guesses won the game.

Every time he stepped up, I couldn’t help but laugh. He made very expressive faces and insane gestures that I never would have guessed at the time (because I didn’t know the cultural background and I didn’t know the other players and what they would get). Somehow everyone understood him and this impressed me.

He had a way of making everyone feel calm and that they could figure these clues out if they just tried. His effort to help his family members in this small way struck me. It was as if he would do anything for his family – even the most insignificant thing. Plus the faces he made had me crying. He wasn’t afraid to make a fool out of himself.

Throughout that day, the little actions he took solidified a decision that was growing on me during the course of our friendship. That specific day as I think about it now produces various emotions in me. But I can definitely say that was when I knew I’d have a future with the Mexican.