Tomorrow morning, at an ungodly hour, I am headed to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. There, I’ll visit the girls at Our Little Roses (and check up on all those shoes we delivered last March).
It was ten years ago that Sara and I first visited OLR. I was looking for a project we could do together, since at the age of 16, she naturally had better things to do than spend time with her mother. This opportunity, with its focus on young women who had been abused and abandoned, seemed to be a natural fit.
After that first visit, Aurora, a resident of OLR, came to the U.S. to live with us for a few months so she could study English. In a blog entry, I can’t begin to tell you what those four months were like, but here’s the short version: it was hard.
She hated the food. She hated the cold (and since she also hated wearing anything that made her size-zero self look even a tiny bit larger, she was always cold). She was desperately homesick.
Still, we had some wonderful times, watching the telanovela Maria, la del Barrio on Univision and making Friday-night trips to the makeup department at the Wal-Mart.
When she went back to Honduras, she was determined to exert her independence. She moved out of the Home and for awhile we didn’t hear from her. Sara and I went down, found her, and let her know we still loved her.
Eventually, she made her way back to OLR. With our help, she attended a private university in Honduras, where she graduated number one in her class. There she also met Jorge, a handsome young man who fell in love with her intellect, her spunk, and her beauty.
Two years ago, in the chapel at Our Little Roses, Aurora and Jorge were married. Since her mother did not attend the ceremony, I was the mother of the bride.
This year, while I am in San Pedro Sula, I am looking forward to spoiling little Jorgito, the world’s most adorable boy. I am also anxiously checking on the health of my darling ajihada (God daughter), who is expecting her second baby–a girl this time–on Sara’s very birthday. What a miracle the last ten years have been.
Abuelitas being what they are, I will probably post a zillion pictures when I get back. (Actually, of course, I won’t post any, but with Waldo’s help …)
Hasta luego–.