Support.
Pictures like this one scared me... they still do. I don't know what it is. The clothes, the stern looks on the older persons, the black and white tone, or maybe it's because every person depicted on a picture like this always, and I mean it, ALWAYS looks evil...Looking at this picture, I can't help but notice how weak and feeble the father looks. He must've been a hard man on his day... the wife probably took a beating or two.
The older son, which I think is the one on the right, would obviously inherit the "family business", and judging by the clothes, he must've worked on sales.
The mother, a loving woman who'd never leave her husband no matter how hard life was with him, was raised just for that. Grow up, get married to a "nice" man, have children, raise them, and stay at home to serve hand on foot to her husband. Uneducated, just like her mother, the daughter was on the same path.
The younger son would soon be drafted for war. He'd die 6 months later by an infected gunshot wound.
I can't even imagine how hard life must've been in that time, for this entire family. But in spite of all their trouble, the hard father very set on his ways, the abnegated mother, and the obedient children, war, disease, everything they worked for washed away by these troubles... they stayed together up until the end.
After all, everything you have left when the chips are down, is your family... nothing else.
People.
People. I see people come and go all the time. I notice them. Probably they notice me also, but they don't act on it... on the other hand, I create lives for all of 'em. And they can be whatever I want them to be... sometimes my mind wanders off too much, and it creates unbelievable stories that just make every one of these characters even more apealling... you'll see what I mean.
Like the old man with a hat from the park, I named him Jerry. A true artist, Jerry lived his younger days as a playboy, going from woman to woman... never cared for anyone or anything, so he lost everything. His sons, Erick and Joseph, don't want to know anything about him... about the man who abandoned them and their mother when they were only 6 and 7. This kills Jerry. Now he realizes what he did. But it's too late...
Or Eliza. When the love of her life, Jake, left her for a MAN, she was devastated... she made a vow never to fall in love again... now she spends the day at the park playing chess with an old man that calls himself Jerry...
Take Robert for example. He's a Fashion Designer. He came out of the closet a few years ago... he lost a lot, like friends and relatives, but he gained his freedom... now he answers only to himself. He drives a red Mini Cooper with a white stripe on the roof... the old one. I feel jealous every time I see him.
Camille. Aaah... Camille. An elementary school teacher with a heart of gold. She's 26, beautiful, and a single mom to a beautiful girl with Down Syndrome called Jenna. She lost her mother 2 years ago to breast cancer... She now lives with the fear of developing it herself...
And last but not least, Emma... the love of my life. I'll never get a chance to be with her... she's engaged and very much in love with Joey. Lucky bastard. She'll never know how much I love her... and that's ok. I can still come to this café everyday, sit at the same table, with a view of the park in front, and look at her... but she'll never know...
What I Don't See.
I saw someone today... someone I hadn't seen in a long time and that I really admire... I didn't even see it coming... I was at a local restaurant having lunch with some friends, but I drank like a gallon of coffee in the morning and I hadn't gone to the bathroom yet, so I really had to pee... I got up the table, walked towards the restroom when there she was, staring right into my face... she stopped me right on my tracks...Seeing me must've taken her by surprise... I was overwhelmed when I saw her... and I felt a huge deal of fear when I saw her after many years... She didn't say a word. She just looked at me with what I thought was probably interest, but as it was when I was younger, it was disapproval. Her hair was pulled back severely, displaying a pale face made up like a porcelain doll... the years had passed her by. She was looking old, tired, and sick of everything... she looked like shit.
What happened to her? What happened to that woman who'd do as she pleased? The woman right in front of me, couldn't be her...
As usual, arrogance just flowed from her... I waited for words to come out of my mouth. Or hers. She looked like a mix between Beatrix Kiddo/Madonna/Mata Hari/Hillary Clinton/Cleopatra/and every other woman in the world, strong or not... she was all of us, and all of us were her... mistreated, happy, sad, mean, evil, warm-hearted...
That's when I realized she was something else... A warrior. A goddess. A survivor. Someone not to be fucked with. Before I could clear my throat, she was gone. Arranging her skirt with her arthritic hands, she disappeared into the darkness behind her. I was left shaking for what felt like forever... partially because I still had to go to the bathroom but mostly because I had encountered such an exquisite creature yet once again...
When I came to my senses, I realized something... the whole time, I was staring right into a mirror.
Incoherent Rambling
I've spent my whole life trying NOT to become my father... and I think I've done well so far... I don't even know why I began this post saying that, but it's just another one of my endless ramblings... let's see:
ram·ble (răm'bəl) intr.v., -bled, -bling, -bles.- To follow an irregularly winding course of motion or growth.
- To speak or write at length and with many digressions.
So I guess that instead of saying "ramblings", I could've said "...another one of my endless writings at length and with many digressions." but something tells me that wouldn't have been funny... after all, I'm not always a funny guy, sometimes I can really piss people off... like this one time ("at band camp..." lol) I was in the middle of an Advertising midterm at college and given that I have a great relationship with the professor, I was asking her all the answers throughout the entire test until the point where she said: "You know what? Give it back! I'll give you an A+ if you just shut up and leave!" and she had this crazy look on her eyes.
But if we're gonna talk about "crazy eyes", I should mention my cousin whenever I tell her I bought something... a dialogue with her would go a little like this:
ME: "Hey! Guess what I bought?"
HER: "Oh my God! (gesture of hand touching forehead)" "What?"
ME: "A new pair of _______." (It's usually shoes, ha!)
HER: "Really? How much did they cost?"
ME: "Q.400."
HER: "Sure! You can do that! You don't have a family to support, so you can just throw all the money to the toilet!"
ME: "Well, you don't have a family either... what's up with THAT???!"
HER: "But at least I EARN my money... yadda-yadda-yadda... blah-blah-blah-blah-blah..."
She's also really good at endless talks at length and with many digressions, oops, I mean, ramblings. Not as good as me though. And I wanna clear up to any non-Guatemalan people, the Q. on the price of what I bought, stands for "Quetzales", which is the currency here in Guatemala. And Q.400 are about US$51, so I don't think it's that much, but apparently, I'll realize how much it is when I "have a family to support."
And speaking of "families to support", my nephew, who's just 2 months older than me, is getting married in a month. Can you believe it? 20 years old, and he'll be married in a month, and a few months later, the baby will come.
Erick and Sandy sitting in a tree...
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
First came the baby
Then came marriage
Then came MY SISTER with a baby carriage.
Yeah, right! Like my sister would take care of her grandchild. She would, sometimes, but then she'd say: "It's your problem, dude! YOU deal with it!!!" I hope it's a girl. We need another girl in the family, we're mostly males. Which is good also, I guess. Anyway, what I DON'T have to guess, is what I'll be doing tomorrow... I have a dentist appointment.
In a couple of weeks, or even days, I'm gonna have my braces. I'm a little scared about them, cuz I've heard they hurt like a bitch, but I guess I'm gonna have to deal with it. And speaking of bitches.... ha! there's someone I know that would fit right in after "bitches", but I'm not gonna ramble about her today...
Mood:
Happy!!!Soundtrack:
"Maneater" - Nelly FurtadoHave a good one... I'm done!
Pictures like this one scared me... they still do. I don't know what it is. The clothes, the stern looks on the older persons, the black and white tone, or maybe it's because every person depicted on a picture like this always, and I mean it, ALWAYS looks evil...
