In 2013, I decided that I would follow my lifelong dream of living in Mexico. I'd always thought of it as a truly fascinating country full of wonderful surprises around each corner, so when I had the chance to try an internship with a Guadalajara based company called "NGRP", I hastily accepted and went on to pursue my dream. What was originally supposed to be a six-month internship soon turned out to be two whole years of steady work and interesting experiences. The only downside was that my mother had been unable to visit me for all this time. I hadn't seen her in two whole years!
Mom had taken care of me by herself ever since my father got shot outside a market in 1999. The perpetrator was jailed for killing on sight, but my father's life was impossible to save. A sturdy and outgoing woman, my mother always tried to look on the bright side of life and encouraged me to follow my hopes and dreams, even if it meant not being able to visit her for a while. Now, after two long years, I'd had enough of not being able to see her. I took a week off from work and booked a business class ticket to Detroit. Oh, I could only imagine the look on her face when she got to see her baby girl Barbara again!
There was a slight discomfort inside me when I stood in front of her front door, ready to ring the doorbell. What if I'd broken her heart by going this long without seeing her? What if she didn't want to see me? She seemed happy when she phoned me for my 20th birthday, but I was still nervous. I rang the doorbell and waited impatiently for a response. The door opened, and there she was.
"Barbara! Oh my god, my lovely Barbara! I'm so happy to see you!" she burst out in tears of joy.
"I'm here, 'ma! I've missed you so much."
My mother was only wearing a maroon colored bra and a pair of swimming panties; she'd probably been out for a tan before I surprised her.
"The weather's so nice, Barbara, you chose an excellent day to arrive!" she said enthusiastically. "Come inside and I'll fetch you some cold lemonade."
I dropped my bags in the hallway and sat down in the living room couch as my mother pondered around the kitchen. Aah, seeing this cozy little place brought back fuzzy memories from my time growing up.
"Are any of my brothers in town, by any chance?" My brothers, Devin, Lee and Clark, all lived on the west coast. I'd never had a particularly close relationship with any of them, as I was 9 years younger than the one next in line. Being the "manly men" they were, they left it to my mom to take care of me and, like myself, skipped town only weeks after they turned 18. "Nah, Devin came for a couple days last month but had to suddenly depart for work."