But Anyways…
I have listened to upward of 30 plus recordings so far in the retelling of my Grandmother’s story. All consist of her recalling moments, events, feelings…her classical music playing in the background. I have paid more attention to the inflections in her voice, her little pauses, or filler words in the last few months than I have in my entire life with her. It is in these moments where not much is said that I understand the most. As I listen I type, no editing, just word for word; from recording to page. I then go back and edit; clarify moments, shorten and take out some spoken fillers. This time I left them in. In the moments she says ‘any ways or any way’, I can hear her voice trailing off.. I can feel her mind wander. Then she pulls herself back to the moment. I felt her sink into the thoughts surrounding leaving her mother, knowing what that would feel like now as she looks back, and remembering how it felt even then. I could sense her staying in that moment of her first married New Years kiss just a beat longer until she ‘any wayed’ herself to the next part of the story. It is in those moments, when we pause, use fillers or even get flustered or forget what we were saying, that our vulnerabilities show. It is in those moments it goes from ‘a story’ to ‘HER story’. But…anyway…
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After my honeymoon and Christmas in La Paz it was time for us to leave. I would be leaving my house for, well, forever. There were so many mixed emotions. I remember feeling so sad for my mother because I knew how it was going to affect her..but anyway... We were in the airport and I was sitting down waiting for a plane. Henry had walked off somewhere and I heard from the loud speaker “Mrs. Mendez, Mrs. Mendez”. I just sat there not thinking anything of it until I realized it was ME. I hadn’t used that name yet. Henry came and found me and teased ‘aren’t you Mrs. Mendez?’ I laughed, I guess I was. It ended up being my parents calling to wish us good luck on our trip.
We arrived in Cochabamba for New Years and it was so much fun. We went out to the New Years Eve party at the Social Club. My new Father in Law, who I loved dearly..Oh he was so excited to introduce me to all of these people. When midnight came of course the first thing I wanted to do was kiss my husband! So we did. But we didn’t realize that the whole party was silent, standing up and listening to the National Anthem, and there was Henry and I just kissing in the middle of the room. But anyway. We danced until 7am in the morning, went to the market to eat, and then finally went home to sleep. Around 8:30 there was a knock on our door, it was one of Henry’s uncles who came to visit us. So we had to get up after just an hour of sleep and say hello to Tio Julio. About a half an hour later.. Tio Dario, Tio Luis, Tio Jorge, Tia Lina.. and that's when I realized my husband was related to half of the town. It took a whole day just to meet all of these people. But they were all so welcoming and happy to meet me. It was really just a wonderful experience.
Anyway…
Then we had to leave for our new life. We moved to Camiri, an oil camp in the Eastern part of Bolivia. This is where we started our life as newlyweds, which was very interesting because I had never cooked before! If I did it was with the help of our cook or my mom but cooking and being a housewife and getting to know my husband…well it was a very new and exciting experience. The weather was very very hot as it was a tropical area. We lived with another couple in a two bedroom house as ours was being built. This couple became our very good friends and we had quite a nice experience with them as well as getting to know everyone Henry was working with and seeing how much they respected him. It was just a very unique and special time.
