We live in Mama Lolita’s “compound” with her immediate family living within the compound. This post is about Lolita’s grandson, Francisco.
Francisco turned 17 late this summer. His mom, Lolita, has a house in the compound, but Francisco lives with his grandmother (Mama Lolita) at the main house. Francisco likes to work on cars and over the past 8 months Mike has been his mentor.
And not just with cars. But with life. I watched as Mike took Francisco under his wing and worked with him. Remarkably, Mike knows little Spanish and Francisco knows little English, nevertheless, those 2 spent day after day together and they shared a lot of information. When I got home from school Mike would tell me long, detailed stories about Francisco and I had to ask him how in the world he knew any of that. He’d look me straight in the eyes and say, “Francisco told me all about it…”
As we are finishing our packing and making plans to leave in the morning I am watching Mike and Francisco. We are giving our TV, DVD player, microwave and water dispenser to Francisco. As Mike tells him about the stuff, he looks somewhat bewildered. And Mike looks sad. Sad to leave Francisco.
1 comment:
Cynthia - I'm glad Francisco had a mentor for a while, I think he has sort of been lost in the shuffle of Lolita's big family and I worry for his future. I hope Mike will find a way to be in touch with him now and then, maybe on Lolita's email?
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