BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

In my junior year at Wendell Phillips High School in 1974, I had the opportunity to work during the summer months at a place called Green Acres Country Club in Northbrook, Illinois. My best friend, Charles had asked me if I wanted to work with him and his brother Willie, who was the head chef there. I could not resist this once in a lifetime opportunity to work as a bus boy in a remote area outside the ghetto. I soon realized that for the first time, I would take a two-month journey far away from the ghetto into a life-changing experience that I would never forget. Green Acres was the climax of my adolescent desires and aspirations, because for the first time, I found myself captivated in an environment, where predominately Mexican immigrants spoke a language, entirely unknown to me, but it later became known as “My First Love.”

That language was of course Spanish, and I felt attracted to her like a magnet. I wondered if it was my overwhelming urge and curiosity to understand the incomprehensible conversation that was being spoken to me by Mexican immigrants who lived and worked there. This fortunate experience was my very first exposure to a language and culture that I knew nothing about. However, I was so determined to break the language barrier, which existed between my co-workers and me.

Someone may be asking the question, “What does it really take to learn a second language such as Spanish?” All together, it takes a big risk, a desire, perseverance, and motivation for someone to be able to learn a language such as Spanish. How could I ever forget writing down in my journal some of the most common words and expressions?  My knowledge of Spanish grew immensely, when an old immigrant worker by the name of Ignacio took an interest in my endeavors to speak it. He was a very generous, kind, and helpful man who tutored and taught me survival Spanish.

On the other side of the coin, there occurred a rather funny and regretful incident, which involved me and a Mexican girl named Vickie. While being naive and super anxious to learn Spanish “I put my foot in my mouth” when a co-worker named Ricardo whispered for me to tell her in Spanish, “Oye, mamacita!” (“Hey, foxy lady!”) When I told her this phrase, she felt insulted and decided never to hold a friendly conversation with me again. I later learned that the word “mamacita” could be used as a substitute for an affectionate mom that lives at home. However, Vickie knew by the context in which I used it that I was simply being fresh with her.

During the years of acquiring my First Love, I felt emotionally wounded because of the death of my daughter, Kelly. It was a heart-breaking tragedy to know that she died as a result of Infant Death Syndrome, which at that time people knew very little about the reasons why babies all of the sudden stop breathing and die. Also, during that time in my life, I experienced a horrendous and bitter divorce in which I became the legal guardian of my eight-year-old son, Joshua.

Joshua was quite sad and discouraged as to the reason why he had to be separated from his other two siblings. But, he soon realized and accepted the fact that I now had to become the one due to legal and personal matters to care for him, and to provide for his personal, physical, emotional, and psychological needs. Of course, I welcomed this challenge and responsibility as a single parent. He and I lived for a short time with my parents, and it should be noted that my parents assumed temporary custody of my son Joshua for many months, until I received legal guardianship.

I thank God for Leonida, who later became my wife and Joshua’s step mom. Through the years, she has truly been a stall worth mom, in loving him, and meeting most of his personal, physical, emotional, and even spiritual needs. Most importantly, she has been a praying mother, who has instilled in him biblical principles, which have helped him succeed in life.

In retrospect, I first met her during my divorce proceedings at Hyatt Legal Services in downtown Chicago. Back then, she was a legal assistant, whose professionalism, mannerism, and inward and outward beauty stood out like an oasis in the desert. I wondered and asked myself, “Why was I so attracted to her?” Perhaps she possessed something else which caught my attention. After my divorce, Leonida and I got further acquainted with each other, when I decided to ask her out for a date. One Christmas, Leonida surprised Joshua with a new Huffy bike. It was his first bike, and he was “head over heels about it.” He thanked her for it, and his relationship grew closer and closer. On the other hand, I also received a very special gift from her, which was a new King James version of the Holy Bible. At first, I did not know what to say or think. But as I held it, I marveled at its appearance; it was leather, and it smelled like a new leather coat. I soon realized that it was the world’s best selling book. How could I forget this awesome book, which had the name Tony Blair engraved in gold letters. I hungered and thirsted for the knowledge and wisdom that it contained, and it became known as my New Love.