A Beautiful Wedding - A New Life Together

Who doesn't love a wedding? On April 23rd, I had the honor and pleasure to attend the wedding of my nephew Sean, the son of my sister Lisa. It was a joyous occasion!

The day before the wedding the weather was horrible, the wind blowing like crazy, lightening, thunder, hail, rain, flooding! And the wedding was planned in an outdoor setting! The couple didn't even have a chance to hold their rehearsal because of the weather.

But the wedding day dawned bright and beautiful, much like the love between Sean and his beautiful beloved bride to be, Rocio!

Remember Baby J? I think this was the last picture I posted of her on my blog. Our little Minnie Mouse.

Minnie Mouse has grown up into a beautiful little girl who was the flower girl at her daddy's wedding. Here she is with Baby J's Nini and Poppa, my sister Lisa and her husband Sean Sr. Just Precious!

Don't my sister and her husband look way to young and gorgeous to be grandparents?

Of course I had to pin down that little flower girl and get a picture taken with her. She was starving and not about to let go of her bread so this was the best shot of all the photos I took with her and in every photo this little doll was eating! And eating carbs at that!

The Groom has three brothers who were all part of the wedding party as well. From left to right, Richard aka Richie, the oldest; Edward, then the baby of the family, Issac aka Ikie. Handsome boys!

The father of the four brothers, Sean Sr only knew how to deal with boys since he never had a daughter, but then this little Princess came into the picture and wrapped her Poppa around her little finger and life was never the same again! Here he is helping her to put her slippers back on! Like Cinderella and her Prince!

As you can see there's a lot of dirt in these photos. It was a year ago when the bride and groom choose this venue for their wedding and it was grassy and beautiful. Perhaps you've heard on the news that California is going through a drought? Well this is the result of the drought. Because this venue was outside the city limits and part of a running farm whose well dried up, the farmer was forced to use the water he has been able to get to nurture his animals and crops and not to water the lawns. A sad reality in California right now. But this couple persevered and the wedding was beautiful, dirt and all!

I wish my dad could have been here to see his "Tony" get married. Dad always called him Tony as his name is Sean Anthony. My mom was in attendance though, nothing could keep her away even though just a few weeks earlier she had been hospitalized for five days with double pneumonia! She was so happy for Sean, she's beaming in this picture!

The day was gorgeous, the bride and groom so much in love, weddings are so great!  Here's the new little family and I see so much happiness and joy in their future.

But as we all know, in marriage there are those days when you wonder, "why did I do this?" Just in case I want to post this video of a beautiful song by Kenny Chesney so that this couple always remembers this wedding day, their courtship and the many days filled with "The Good Stuff" that they will have in their future together and just let go of anything else because there will always be more "good stuff" than bad. Love you both Sean and Rocio!






 

Why we love Mariachi Music in my Family

"...the first mariachis did not read their music, they felt it." Jeff Nevin

There is just something in Mariachi Music that sings to the souls of all those in my family...from the youngest to the oldest. Mariachi's and Pinata's are our childhood. We all have our favorite songs and the one in the video above is my favorite. At about 1:33 in the video you will see two of my cousins, Elpidia and Ofelia or Pete and Faye as they are affectionately known, singing along with the Mariachi. And in the very left corner you see my own beautiful sister giving out a yell Mariachi style! We had a blast at this party and I'll share more photos in another post. For now enjoy the video. The lyrics are below and I have tried, as best I can, to translate the song.

Lyrics to El Rey :
(El Rey means The King)

Yo se bien que estoy afuera
 (I know well that I am outside)
Pero el dia que yo me muera
(But the day that I die)
Se que tendras que llorar.
(I know you will have to cry)
(Llorar y llorar, llorar y llorar)
(Cry and Cry, Cry and Cry)
Diras que no me quisistes
(You'll say you never loved me)
Pero vas a estar muy triste
(But you will be very sad)
Y asi te me vas a quedar.
(And that is the way you will stay)

Con dinero y sin dinero.
(With money or without money)
Yo hago siempre lo que quiero.
(I always do what I want)
Y mi palabra es la ley.
(And my word is the law)
No tengo trono ni reina.
(I don't have a throne nor a queen)
Ni nadie que me comprenda.
(Nor anyone that understands me)
Pero sigo siendo el rey.
(But I continue being The King)

Una piedra en el camino
(A stone in the road)
Me enseno que mi destino.
(Showed me my destiny)
Era rodar y rodar.
(Was to roll and roll)
(Rodar y rodar, rodar y rodar)
(Roll and Roll, Roll and Roll)
Tambien me dijo un arriero
(Also I've been told by a muledriver)
Que no hay que llegar primero
(That you don't need to arrive first)
Pero hay que saber llegar.
(But you need to know how to arrive)

(Chorus - Already translated above)
Con dinero y sin dinero.
Yo hago siempre lo que quiero.
Y mi palabra es la ley.
No tengo trono ni reina.
Ni nadie que me comprenda.
Pero sigo siendo el rey.

The meaning is lost a little bit when you translate it into English, but it's your basic love song. Guy meets girls, he screws something up and she kicks him to the curb, so that's why he says he is outside, he's outside of her life, but he knows that she is going to regret it and someday when he dies she is going to cry and cry and cry!! She'll lie to all her friends and pretend like he wasn't "all that" and she never really loved him but she's never going to get over him...or so he says :-)

Then he get's all macho and tells her that it doesn't matter if he has money or not cause he always does things his way (which is probably what got him into trouble in the first place!) And then he says that his word is the law...hmmm, maybe that's what got him into trouble? For some reason whenever any Mariachi sings that one line the women all swoon and go nuts, seriously, go back up and listen to them scream...women! We just love the bad guys *sigh*. Anyway, he goes on basically saying he doesn't need anyone when he says he doesn't have a throne or a queen and he's so misunderstood... but it doesn't matter cause he will always continue being the King!

Then he sings about a rock or a stone or a pebble he saw while on the road and he realized his destiny was to be like a rolling stone and roll and roll. You know, like the song, "Papa was a rolling stone. Where ever he went that was his home; and when he died....all he left us was alone!" Or like a rolling stone gathers no moss? Anyway basically he's saying "That's how I roll woman!"

Then he said he was told by an "arriero" which is a mule driver, I guess some guy that he stopped to chat with and complain about how his woman "done did him wrong"...anyway, this mule driver tells him, "you don't need to be the first to arrive, it's better to know when to arrive" or "it's better to make an entrance". I guess when you seek advice from a mule driver you get what you pay for as it sounds good and makes the song flow in Spanish, but it really doesn't make much sense to me? Any suggestions?

So that's the song in a nutshell. Oh...and go back up and watch it again and watch for the lady Mariachi! Gotta love her! I always wanted to be a Mariachi but sadly I can't sing or play an instrument or perform in public or wear blouses that you have to tuck into your skirt! Other than that though I could probably be a pretty good Mariachi!

Thank you to the Baldenegro Family for hosting the celebration of their parents 50th Wedding Anniversary and giving us all a chance to get together for a happy occasion for once.

Que Viva los Baldenegros...Long Live the Baldenegros!

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

Have you ever picked up a book and then realized that laundry, shopping, television, eating, yes even BLOGGING could wait until you finished that book? Well that recently happened to me when I read the most amazing book, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats! When I got to the beginning of the very last chapter I put the book on my nightstand and turned off the light and finally went to sleep only because I was not ready for this book to end!

But more about the book itself in a later post, for now I want to write a post inspired by this book because as a member of the From Left to Write Book Club that is what we do. Not a review, but an inspiration! When Julia travels to Burma to search for her missing lawyer father, she discovers much more than she expected. Join From Left to Write on February 1 as we discuss The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker. As a member of From Left to Write, I received a copy of the book. All opinions are my own.

When I was a little girl, I could not imagine my parents ever having been any younger than they were right that very minute. I  just assumed they had been the same age forever just waiting around in limbo for me to be born. They had never been little babies, or toddlers, or preschoolers or teens or young adults. Nope, they had always just been the age they were then.

It was therefore very surprising to me to find out that they had had lives before I was even born!! *Gasp* What? No...I can't believe it. What do you mean, you remember when you went to school? What do you mean, you remember when you played with dolls and toy trucks? What do you mean, you had boyfriend/girlfriends before you married? It was just beyond my comprehension.

And then as I got older and I heard stories from my parents, or my aunts and uncles about various family events, adventures and/or secrets...well I was even more astounded! I think we just assume that nothing important could have happened prior to our being brought into this world.

But there were things that happened, marriages that took place and ended. Hearts that were broken, dreams that were shattered. Families that were formed. Loves that last forever. And I'm sure that I don't even know everything that happened in the past as yet. Every time our family gets together or I talk to a cousin or an aunt I learn something new.

This weekend I'm heading back to the homeland...our "tierra" as we would say in espanol. I'm heading back to Eloy, Arizona to attend the 50th Wedding Anniversary of my Cousin Mary Lou and her husband of 50 years, Fernando. This is a photo of them on their wedding day.

Family is so important and they are the ones that know us best. But even family doesn't know EVERY THING about us. We have secrets and there are secrets that we will never know.

In the book, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, Julia Win finds out exactly what I am writing about. She begins to find out the story of her father who went missing on the day after her graduation from law school. Her mother finds an unmailed love letter to a Burmese woman and the journey begins for Julia to find out the truth about why her father disappeared.

*****I wrote this post prior to leaving to Arizona to attend the Golden Wedding Anniversary. I just wanted to say that of course, again I learned new things about my family. The most important thing I learned is something I already knew but just had it reaffirmed for me..and that is THERE IS NOTHING LIKE FAMILY!