Daddy's Girl
Las Preubas de Daddy
I met my husband on his first tour of duty in San Diego. I am a San Diego native and knew that military boys were not going to make my Papa happy. The good thing was that my husband (before we married) passed my Daddy’s very many tests.
My dad’s tests consisted of the following:
- How many tequila shots could he take take (and it better not be more than him),
- Does he look at me and ONLY me
- Will he promise to not be a bobo while he’s out and about without me.
- Would he respect me and my family if allowed to stay in our home before we were married.
My husband’s ship gave him special orders and he was able to come back early if he had a place to stay with a sponsor. Yes, my big old Mexican daddy actually let my boyfriend stay in our home with a few rules of course! That was the ultimate test. Needless to say, my husband ended up staying with us for awhile until the day my husband and I got our own place. We were married very shortly after we moved out.
Empapada en Tears
My husband was able to get San Diego as his duty station for 12 straight years and we were so happy to be close to family. I never really had a need to use any military resources and I never knew what it was really like to be a military spouse. I took that military luxury, of living near family, for granted. For promotion purposes and to look good on paper, my husband was given the advice that he should choose another duty station other than San Diego on his next tour. So, after discussing the situation, we made the decision to take orders to DC. I had mixed emotions at first.
On one hand, I was excited to finally have the chance to leave the nest; the nest that I would not leave by my own choosing.
I knew that the only way that I was ever going to leave home was if someone forced me to leave. On the other hand, I was scared to death! I didn’t know if I was going to cope well with leaving and detaching the umbilical cord from my whole family and closest friends. Being a Latina from a large extended family equals too many attachments! I thought about how my parents were not getting any younger and how my grandma was already in her 80′s. I thought about my little nieces and nephews and how much I would miss our play times and travesura times. I have a nephew who I am really close to and whenever I go to his house, he and I go out to the balcony at his house which overlooks the eastern San Diego county mountains.
Day of move picture with my little buddy
While we are there, we share a bag of chips and I teach him things and we talk. He is only three years old, but he is familiar with our routine. When I walk in with a bag of chips, he stops what he is doing to hang out with me, his Tia.
These are the things that I thought about and by the time I started to swallow all of those realizations, I was empapada, covered, in tears, but…there was no way out of it…I was stuck. I had a lot to do before the move and there was no time for crying. The dreaded count down had begun…
Stay tuned for the second part of my story and don’t be shy! Do you have a similar experience? Let me know in the comments below.
I love your article, congrats! I am so proud of you.
Loved it, it brought tears to my eyes. One of he things I admired about you is how close you are to your family and how much you love them…No matter what. I can’t wait to see the next entry!