Today is my abuelita’s 80th birthday. If she didn’t live so far (Colombia), I’d be hanging out with the huge family I’ve never met, playing guitar and drinking with them in celebration. I have met her though. Twice.
If it wasn’t for the language barrier, it would’ve been easy to pick up the phone. But alas, I had to send a message in Spenglish to my primas to read aloud. It was as I was writing the message that I felt inspired to write this.
Growing up, I did learn Spanish, but I was ridiculed in my Saturday Spanish school because of my Canadian accent. Kids can be so cruel! I was a shy kid so I quickly clammed up and neatly locked any memory of the language in a file waaaaay at the back of my brain. The only thing that unlocks it is a bit of alcohol mixed with being in a Spanish country for a minimum of three days.
I always cherished my abuelita. She is the only grandparent I ever knew. I would see my friends take their grandparents for granted and it would make me upset. If they only knew how lucky they were to be able to learn so much about how it was like “back then”. And a lifetime of stories!
Throughout my life, my phone conversations with her went pretty much like this:
“Hola abuelita, como estas?…Te quiero mucho….Adios!”
One thing about my grandma that affected my whole life was the fact that she was diabetic. I was never a sweet tooth, learning early on that diabetes was found on both sides of the family and it was the reason I never met my other grandmother. To show you what I mean, after getting a bag of Halloween candy, I would only eat one piece of candy per day and end up throwing half of it out. I ALWAYS ate the chips though.
Friendship: In Honour of Jo
In honour of my BFF who passed several years ago today, I am dedicating this blog to friendship. I met my best friend when I was 7. The first gift she ever gave me was a charlie horse for my 8th birthday. As we grew up, our friendship matured and changed. It was a great feeling to know that, no matter what, this person had my back. We did everything together. There was love, trust, honesty and acceptance, even at our most annoying moments. Just hours before she left, I was lucky enough to tell her how much I loved her and we had one of the best heart-to-hearts that I’ve ever had with another human being. She lived grandly and boldly and left this world the way she lived it. I miss her still.
Her passing inspired so much music out of me. When it comes to writing, I am not one of those paint-by-numbers songwriters-for-hire. I only write when inspired and in order to be inspired, I need to live. I don’t enjoy writing what other people want to hear. I’ve always approached music as a tool for healing, not as a job or chore. I can only write for myself and if other people like it, well that’s a bonus.
Relationships inspire a lot of us: both the ones with people who are currently in our lives and those who have left. Lately, I’ve questioned why some people value friendship more than others. Is it the way we’re brought up? Is it the experiences we’ve gone through or haven’t gone through? Are some people just jerks? Or are they too afraid to be vulnerable and open up? How do different people define friendship? Read more... (789 words, 2 images, estimated 3:09 mins reading time)