Lessons of Life...A Personal Perspective ..Part One

That's me in the striped shirt

For many years as I was growing up in this country my parents would make their yearly sojourn to Mexico to visit family and friends. I really enjoyed the site's and sounds of the whole experience. As a young and inexperienced youth i was very conscious of the world around me..always grasping to find meaning in the things I would see or experience...most of the time never fully understanding why people did what they did or why things were the way they were..I could never wrap my brain around the meaning of it all ! Life was full of contradictions..even more so to a young confused but curious mind!

Everything was packed into our old 56 Chevy station wagon and my parents were determined to get an early start..it would take at least four day's to get to Guadalajara Mexico.. At the age of sixteen my only interest on that morning was to stay in bed and sleep as long as I possibly could....I remember hearing my father getting out of bed and going through his morning ritual..I could hear as he opened the bathroom door and a moment later the familiar sound of the shower handle as he turned it...as I sank my head deeper into my pillow I remember thinking to myself... why does he take a shower in the morning when he took one just before going to bed !...its not like he was rolling in dirt as he slept !...somehow it didn't make sense to me.

My Mother always got up after Father completed his daily routine..you see we..we only had one bathroom.. and with a family of five we each had to wait our turn...After a while we knew when it was our turn by the different noises we heard as we lay in bed..the opening or closing of the bathroom door..the turning of the shower faucet..the flushing of the toilet..footsteps..all these different noises became our cues. I hated these noises !.. they were like little alarms that kept going off in my head !..one after another!..constantly reminding me that soon i would have to abandon this wonderful sensation of nothingness and be forced to deal with the reality of it all !... I ignored them most of the time..! 

"Levantate ! Levantate ! Hector Levantate !! Get up ! Get up ! Hector  Get up ! Wait a minute ! four o'clock in the morning?... this was insane ! how could someone be so cruel to abruptly wake me from this delightful slumber?..Was getting an early start that important?...this was another one of those things that just didn't make any sense to me ! Well after much prodding ..I finally got up! My mother had prepared some delicious egg chorizo and bean burritos for the road ! I loved my mothers cooking ! She was always in the kitchen cooking up something special for us..we knew that whatever she put on the table was going to be extraordinary ! ..nothing added and nothing taken away..just absolute perfection ! I don't recall a time when Mother did not have a pot of beans either cooking or just sitting their on the stove teasing us to partake of it's healing powers!... I preferred the "frijoles de la hoya" these were pure unadulterated gems of wonder ! not refried ..just pinto beans cooked in some water and she would add a whole onion and some salt ..that's it ! but oh'.. what a delight ..Her refried beans were also amazing...everyone knew when she was preparing them because of the unforgettable smell ..she would put about a half serving spoon full of 'Manteca'..yes you heard right 'Pork Lard' in a frying pan and then she would lay a corn tortilla onto the melted manteca ! ..and she would leave the corn tortilla floating on the lard until it released all it's wonderful flavor ..most of the time she would leave it to long and the tortilla would start smoking and almost become charred ..that was the magic ! When we got a whiff of that burned tortilla ..we knew that soon all our problems would disappear !  She would take out the tortilla after it had given all it could and then she would throw in a few diced onions and chili's followed by the pinto beans ! Once the beans were nice and tender ..Mother would use a bean smasher and crush them until they were just right ..but just before they were refried to perfection.. she tossed in a whole jalapeño chile pepper to give the beans it's final compliment! The jalapeño pepper would just lay there in the middle of the pan half buried in the beans slowly releasing its awesome  potent flavor. Life was very complicated for a young teenager like me and many things just didn't add up...but this made all the sense in the world to me !.. nothing could be more clear!.. when Mother was in the kitchen cooking for us.. somehow all of life's hidden mysteries were revealed to me!..every issue that laid heavy on my young heart dissipated..  Yes...Life did have meaning and purpose....if only for a moment !

It was still dark as we pulled out of our driveway..Father had a long road ahead of him ..he would do all the driving ... once we got onto the Interstate 5 heading south ..the only time he would stop was to fill up and use the restroom..sometimes he would drive for sixteen hours straight without resting ! He was a driving machine !...  my Mothers job was to keep him awake!..

As much as i hated getting up rediculously early..once we were on the highway..a whole new world opened up to me..there was nothing more exciting than sitting back with my nose to the window getting lost in myself and watching the world go by..I just loved to ride in our car early in the morning..it was a special time for me..  not often did i get a chance to witness this beautiful part of the day... especially when the sun began to peek over the horizon ..slowly revealing it's awe inspiring light !  ....what a wonderful sense of being alive !

Mother reached down between her feet where she had placed our morning breadfast burritos..she had wrapped them in foil and then covered them completely with a small kitchen towel ..as she unwrapped the foil ..the world around me somehow made more sense.

The next best thing to riding in a car early in the morning..is eating in a car early in the morning !! Wow ! life doesn't get any better than this ..it's almost like being at a theater enjoying a movie while eating popcorn ! They say that food taste alot better outdoors.. like when your camping or at a baseball game..I don't know what it is but it's true..especially when your enjoying your favorite meal..while riding in a car early in the morning !

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures !!