Mi tia Guadalupe

Mi Tia Guadalupe

Yesterday was my favorite day since coming to Mexico. It was beyond special!

Most of you know that my father’s brother, Uncle Bob, lived in Mexico and married a Mexican woman named Guadalupe. Unfortunately, a little over three years my Uncle passed away suddenly of a massive heart attack. My Uncle's sudden death was extremely shocking to our family and to Guadalupe, Bob’s wife.

Yesterday I was able to reunite with Guadalupe and her family. Guadalupe currently lives in the nearby town of San Miguel de Allende, where she met my Uncle. This town is full of gringos! Many Americans retire in this city, which is why my Uncle managed to be able to live in Mexico without speaking Spanish. Guadalupe currently runs a restaurant called “Barbecue Bobs”, which she named after my legendary Uncle.

Words cannot describe how special yesterday was! Guadalupe picked me up at my house in GTO and drove me to her parents house in GTO for her sister’s birthday party. Guadalupe is originally from GTO and is in the process of deciding whether to move back here. Her parents live about 15 minutes from mi casa. It was so exciting seeing Guadalupe…it had been about 6 years since I last saw her. She looked even more beautiful than I had remembered.

When we arrived at the house I got to meet the entire family. When I say entire family, I mean all of Guadalupe’s 6 other siblings, brother/sister in laws, parents, aunt, and many nieces and nephews. Upon entering the house it was evident that it was a house that was full of love! Her father was in the middle of playing hide and seek with his granddaughters….too cute!

Everyone made me feel so much at home…especially with my lack of Spanish. I was able to communicate even with my beginning Spanish skills and I had so much fun! I felt so welcomed by Guadalupe and her family!

We played lots of games, talked a lot, sang, and ate fabulous food. At times I found myself getting very emotional about the fact that I was among my Uncle’s in-laws and family. It made me so happy that Uncle Bob had such an amazing family in Mexico! I couldn’t help but cry and laugh at times. It was just extremely special.

I heard some really funny stories from Guadalupe’s family about my Uncle Bob. Guadalupe told me that when Uncle Bob would come over to her family’s house he would cook lots of food and drink lots of tequila. I can only imagine! It sounds just like him! I still think it is funny that Bob didn’t speak Spanish while living in Mexico. Guadalupe said that although Bob was not able to say much to her family, he absolutely loved coming over to her parent’s house in GTO…I can completely see why!

I learned a ton of new Spanish words just by spending time with Guadalupe’s family. I was taught how to play Chess by Natalia, and then played “Basta!” with the entire family. Basta is a game very similar to Scatagories where you have to fill different categories with words beginning with only one letter of the alphabet. Guadalupe’s sister helped me play and I kept the game card so that I can look up some of the words in the dictionary today. At one point in the night we had a sing along. I sang an Alicia Keyes song with Carlos, one of the family friends who is an excellent guitar player/singer. Some of Guadalupe’s nieces and nephews practiced their English with me…they were impressively good English speakers! Their English was way better than my Spanish ☺

I had such an amazing day! I am so happy that my Uncle married a wonderful woman and married into a wonderful Family. I know that he was so extremely proud of Guadalupe and her family, and I was so honored to be apart of the family gathering yesterday!

These are the sweetest little girls!

Me with Natalia, Paula, y Daniel. They are all taking English in School...and they speak really well!

Hanging out during the live music/sing along

Family dinner. They had a mole and a beef stirfry.

Aren't these girls so cute? I think that Mexican children are the cutest!!!

Guadalupe's Father, Sister, Aunt, Mother and other Sister