Grown

Today I received a call from an old friend I recently spent time with. This past Sunday I met up with him and an other old friend because we are part of one of our mutual friends wedding. During this time we somewhat caught up on what each of us have been up to and also the prime reason for the meeting; choosing the groomsmen attire. The three of us will be groomsmen and our bride to be friend decided that since we are her closest friends, we choose our attire for the day. We discussed many choices but ultimately decided on the genric white shirt, black pants and colored tie. Once we got back to her she didn't seem too pleased. She compared to waiters and being too simple, to which we all agreed. We chose the generic look because it's hard to mess up, as well as the other groomsmen being out of town and trying to save money. In order to have more of the brides and bridesmaids point of view we met up today once again. We only came down to options that will only depend on the availability and price. Though we did not come to a uniform decision we did get options. During dinner we realized that today has been the first time the 5 of us that we're there, had finally met up in at least a year. It's shocking but in a way a good thing to see that each of us have been busy going on with our life. I say shocking because these are the people we grew up with and were so used to seeing all the time. Now we are lucky to even spot each other at Walmart or parties in this small town. I say that in a way it is a good thing that we haven't seen each other in a while because it means we have been long. Each of have taken on responsibilities and have made decisions that don't necessarily allow us much free time. This also means that we have been making a life. Some of us working and saving up for future plans like buying a home, or getting hitched, or school. Some of us have stocked with school and are at the ending terms. Some of us have gone back to school and have had to start all over. With all said we have been living. For our selfs and no one else and I think that's good. I'm not going to lie I miss them dearly but each of us  knows that we are only a text or call away. It was really nice going back down memory lane and enjoying a few laughs. It was nice finding out that each of us is succeeding. It was nice that we are able to come together for something as beautiful as a wedding. It is nice that after so many years we can go back to each other as if time has stood still. Yes, some of us have changed, but not so much to where we aren't the same old people around each other. I had a great time and memories like today are what makes life better.

My 5 Favorite Words

This week we have been asked to choose 5 different words that are common in our own vocabulary. Thinking of all the words I speak on a daily basis is quite hard as I am bilingual and not only speak and think in English, but as well as in Spanish. The words I chose I don't necessarily use every day, but, atleast to me, have a nice ring to them and I have used. First word I chose was seafoam. I chose this for the color it represents as it is one of my favorites. I also love the sea and have always thought of foam as a "quirky" word. The color is a light variation of  between blue and green. Second word I chose was serendipity. First off, it is fun to say and roles off the tongue exquisitely. It also means a pleasant surprise. Who ever says they don't like surprises is lying, specially when the surprise is pleasant. Third word I chose was Neanderthal. Like serendipity, the way the letters are arranged and pronounced make the word unique and fun. I like using this as an adjective specially when talking about outdated ideas or outdated products techniques. For example, back in middle school, before anyone texted, we passed notes, it was the Neanderthal form of texting. Fourth word I chose was bodacious. Who hasn't used this word? Specially when you grew up in the 90s and you wanted to sound über cool. "That's so bodacious broski!" Finally kudos was my fifth choice. Kudos is a compliment and is usually used in a positive manner. As in "kudos for these bodacious cookies, grandma!" Words are fun and if used properly can play up any boring conversation. They're like the spices of language!

Not from here nor from there.

My beginnings are humble. I was born in Mexico. I was born in a rural area where farming and livestock are the main industries. I am from the northern central states of Durango and Zacatecas. I am from a municipal that is divided in between the 2 states. Our "village", or ranch as we call it in Spanish, is divided by a creek. To the west of the creek is San Jose De Las Corrientes of the state of Durango. San Jose De Las Corrientes translates to Saint Joseph of the currents. To the east is Salas Perez of the state of Zacatecas. The ranch has one entry road is considered one town by the locals. It's commonly referred to "El Ranchito" or " The Little Ranch." My mother is from Durango and my father is from Zacatecas. They share the same last name, but with being of different states, are of totally different family's. My mother gave birth to me at her parents home. My great-grandmother was the midwife. Since my father is from Zacatecas, my mother and I lived with his parents on the Zacatecas side of El Ranchito while my father was in the U.S. working and setting up our U.S. residencies. In total I lived in Mexico only for the first year of my life, which for obvious reasons I don't remember.

Letter to my past self

Dear Luis,
You are currently 22 years old. Being 22 is not what you expected at all. You are currently 17 and senior in high school. You are eager and full of enthusiasm for the future. Your working a part time job in Burger King and are not too happy with your looks. Remember how you expected to be done with school by now? Starting your career? Being on your own? Being in a relationship and being financially successful? As well as traveling and being the life of the party? Yeah not all those things have come true. Some have, others are a working progress, and some just haven't happened yet. Life works in funny ways
    With school, let me just tell you; your practically a freshman. Yes, you do end up going to college right after high school even when all the odds are against you. Your parents don't really see the importance, but they are supportive. Just remember that in their mind school isn't that big of a deal. After all they are elementary school drop outs and have reached success with their hard work and perseverance. You will end up doing school on your own. You will get that scholarship you've been working so much for this senior year. Let me tell you though, your plans for moving out and living in Springfield won't work out. Life has a funny way of working, but in the end it'll be ok. You should probably pay more attention to your car but knowing you, you won't. Regardless of whether you move or don't you end going to school but it doesn't turn out as planned. You will do great in school, so well that you'll surprise yourself and question on why you didn't try harder in high school. Like I said earlier, life works in funny ways. You won't finish school but you will be ok. Later you'll return to school and pay for it all out of your own pocket, not from Burger King either. Though be thankful for Burger King and keep up the hard work, as they will hire you back without any questions other than if you still have your uniform. Always be thankful. When you go back to school your first time, you'll also do great and finish the course with a 110%. Also pay more attention even if you still do really well on tests. With that said that won't be the last time your back, life works in funny ways. Eventually your back for a 2nd time. That's where I am. Starting all over, but don't give up. I won't.
   Career wise, your not going to be the graphic designer or fashion designer your hopeful for. You won't even touch that other than sketches and doodles that we tend to do. What I can say is that you have began your career. Remember how you hoped to never have to work in manufacturing or chicken factories? To this day you haven't stepped in a chicken factory but remember anything can happen. You will actually work where you never thought you would; In manufacturing. More surprisingly your mothers employer, EFCO. You'll work the summer before college and do well. Just try to get more sleep and less partying. Yeah, partying. You discover this during this summer and spend most of your weekends out of town surprisingly. Specially since mom and dad are so strict. It gets better though. Also maybe another alarm clock will help, on top of your cell phone and radio alarm clock. You won't be much of a morning person anymore as your days are filled with physical labor and your more tired. You'll live through the summer and make friendships you never expected. You'll leave with a great sense of pride and even miss it. After your first scholar fail, guess what! You'll be back. Good thing you were a good employee during the summer, your supervisor helps out a lot. This time you'll really know what physical labor is. With that said, it'll change your physical majorly. You'll end up weighing your middle school weight, 146 pounds. Your parents will start to worry. Try to eat more, your bag of chips and water aren't enough. Also surprisingly there will be times when your not hungry for at least 3 days. Still try to eat something, it's not healthy. I'm no longer that small but you won't be disappointed. Keep working hard and remember all your vocabulary, it'll help out with interviews. You'll be surprised where you end up. A desk. Mom and dad will be proud but don't stop there. I haven't. That's why I'm practically a freshman again.
   Financial success is different to each person. You won't be homeless but you won't be living in a mansion. You'll actually get a second job. Other than housing and groceries you'll be financially independent. We aren't where we want to be but again, that's why I'm a freshman again.
   I've pretty much touched it all. What I haven't you'll find out. Oh, I almost forgot. When it comes to relationships, you'll be ok. Some will work for a while and some won't happen at all. You'll gain some and lose some; In terms of  romantically, business, and friendship. Some that you never thought you'd be able to live without, but it's for the better. I'm doing great though. You'll be VERY surprised who I am with, specially for how long we have been together. As well as how long it took to be together. Stay patient. Be kind. Work hard. Keep learning. Finally don't give up.
Sincerely,
Luis of 9/27/2014

Patience is a virtue.

I have always been a patient person. I've always believed that doing a job right the first time is better than rushing and making many mistakes only to go back and redo the exact same job. I tend to be understanding and try to empathize with all situations. I currently work in the logistics department. This means my job is to deal with all of the companies shipments. Currently we only have 4 people handling the whole companies shipments. That is thousands of jobs and we take care of each one. During the week my responsibilities are billing out LTLs, less than truckloads, which leave on a daily bases. I am also responsible of building truck loads depending on their destination. Material that did not make the prior weeks jobs are  back orders and I am responsible of finding homes for those when they complete. I also bill out the truckloads that leave during the week. The majority of our truckloads are scheduled to leave during the weekends, which means our team is responsible to come in and do the paperwork for the hundreds of jobs that leave. Since there is hundreds of jobs leaving out during the weekend and it would overwhelming and unfair for one person to work every single weekend , our weekends are split up. Currently we work two weekends in a row and get 2 weekends off. The weekends we work we tend to work in partners. Weekends are usually very time consuming for the simple fact that there are hundreds of jobs leaving. In a perfect world, all jobs would be complete and loaded by the weekend and we would just come in and bill out all the trucks. Like I said that would be in a perfect world. Like I said that would be in a perfect world. The majority of the time our loaders come in and work weekends as well in order to complete jobs. We can only bill what is complete and loaded. We also bill jobs that are incomplete but are have all complete items loaded. Many times we are forced to wait on loaders and that is where patience is needed. Many times we are held up waiting on for hours since trailers are having to be moved from department to department for less handling. Less handling means less damage. It also doesn't help that we have two plants in one town. This means the main plant might be done loading they're material but we are forced to wait on the downtown plant to load theirs. With trailers moves being so time consuming, waiting time can vary between 30 minutes to many hours. Patience is key for my job. It gets stressful sometimes but it's part of the job.  Another stresser is that we are responsible of doing transactions that verify inventory. Some jobs are easier than others, all depending on the quantity of the material. We are liable for every piece and must be as exact as possible. Patience is lost sometimes and the weekend becomes long and stressful. Being patient has really helped with handling the stress, but we all have our limits. Today was one of my weekends to work and I've been stuck here for 7 hours already. 2 of those 7 hours have consisted on waiting on 7 jobs. My patience is starting to draw thin. I have already done what I can for next week, so let's see how much longer I have to wait.

Wishes; Granted, just not how you thought.

Growing up, you always make wishes in which there is no earthly possibility that they be granted. When your younger, creativity flows heavy like river and as you grow it slowly becomes a creek. Like creeks grow when there is rain fall, our creativity grow by influences. When I was younger I always wished I could have super powers and wings. I was always a curious kid, going on adventures and finding new hang out spots within our neighborhood. Whether they were just the shed in my backyard or a neighbors bush, my imagination would make that old broken down shed into an abandoned mansion and those bushes into jungles below the equator. With that said I always tried being cunning and sly but my mother and neighbors always knew exactly where I was. Due to always being found, I always wished I had the power to change. Change into other people, animals, even household items. Many times my mother would be asking, "What are you today?" To which my response would always be along the line of, "I am a frog, mom. Can you not see I'm hopping around, trying to catch bugs." or "Mom. I can't talk, I'm a lamp." This method never helped when playing Hide and Seek for obvious reasons. Having the power to change would have really helped then. Along with Hide and Seek, I would love playing Tag. What I hated though, was being it. I hated chasing my friends because I would get tired, I appreciated running from them a lot more. It would be then when I would wish I had wings. When I would see pictures of angels or gargoyles, I would imagine having a set of my own wings. I would imagine flying all over the world, making new discoveries at every stop I would make. I would run around with my arms extended as though they were the wings of airplanes. I would do this specially when I was chasing my friends during a game of Tag. It made me feel like it would make me go faster. When I imagined my wings, I saw them coming out of my back. They would be twice as long as my arms and as wide as half of my height. Looking back now, in a way I still have these wishes. I wish I could change, not to sneak around, but to make a change. Change myself, not physically but intellectually for the better. I wish I had wings, not so I could be faster and tag my friends, but to travel and feel the freedom of free falling yet being able to rely on my wings to keep me from a lethal crash against the earth's crust. Thinking deeper into it, I'm somewhat fulfilling my childhood wishes. I try to learn every single day, which means I have changed from the person I was yesterday to the person I am today. My wings are my education. Like wings, my education can take me many places, literally and figuratively. I can always rely on my education to keep me from crashing to a certain extent. I guess wishes come true.

Love note.

There are not enough words in this world to perfectly dictate my love to you. A whirlwind of butterflies, home baked cookies, and puppy smiles is what comes to mind each time I think of you. Looking back, I don't know how I managed to go a day without knowing you. I mean I knew of you and some of your background. You were someone I always knew existed but not in the way that I know now. Your drive, independence, and fearlessness inspires me. Your optimism sticks to me like the annoying weeds that stick to your socks when you go out for a walk in a field. In the moment of feeling your touch, even if it is a simple graze, my skin becomes sensitive. It is like all the textures in the world are all touching me in the very spot you lightly caressed. The beat to an accelerated dance song is the beat to which my heart beats the moment I see you. I still remember the first time I said a simple hello to you and my eyes finally saw the true beauty behind that beautiful face. Your physical beauty is no comparison to your inner beauty. Physically you are gorgeous. As if you were sculpted by the great sculptors of the past. As if you belonged in some art gallery dedicated to the perfect female specimen. Inside though, you find kindness, joy, and love. Staring into your eyes is like staring at the stars. Beautiful to the eye but with so much depth and magic. Fireworks, canons going off, or even an atomic bomb are nothing in comparison to the feelings experienced when our lips meet. The way you so swiftly lay back and relax on our way home from a day filled of laughter and fun gets me every time. The fear of losing you overcomes me at just the thought of it. You make me feel things I have never experienced with anyone else. Jealousy, anger, and rage; feelings I get just at the thought of you leaving. I am not one to hold you back though. We each are free spirits put on this earth to roam the lands in search of what we define as happiness. What I do want is to walk along your side. To be there when you need to be picked up. To be there when you need a laugh. To help you out figuring whether to go left or right. We each walk a path, this path is what we call life. We each have our own path and sometimes by taking a sudden right we end up meeting with other peoples paths. Some peoples paths end up slowly drifting until each have gone in different directions. Others happiness may not be your happiness and that's ok. Eventually we find someone who's happiness is in the same direction. I am no future teller but to me, your the one I will walk alongside meet our happiness. I love you. Three words, so much more behind them. That's the power of words and there is not enough words to express the power your love gives me. Thank you and I love you.