Devin and I are visiting my family in Mexico this week, doing all the things we never get to do at home, like eating freshly-picked figs and cactus from my aunt and uncle’s garden, taking my niece to the park, and shopping for piñatas. Piñatas are true works of art, and today I think I might have found the very best ones. First, I found this one: 
Then, I passed this high-fashion statue: 
Obligatory close-up of the collar: 
In the end we settled on My Little Pony for my little pony of a cousin Isabella who turned eighteen today! 
cousins
Borders
Though I’ve lived my whole life on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border, I didn’t understand what a border was until I was eleven years old. That summer three of my cousins were allowed to come back from Chihuahua to Texas with my mom and me. I have ten cousins, four of whom are very close in age to me. I call them my first-batch cousins because we were all born one after the other. Then the parents waited a while and then came the second batch. Some of my second-batch cousins don’t like these designations, but it just makes it easier for me to communicate which cousins I’m talking about—because I talk about my cousins all the time. I can’t help it, they’re just that great!
Anyway, the summer before sixth grade almost all my first-batch cousins were allowed to come visit me for two weeks. Caren couldn’t come because she didn’t have her visa renewed in time, and you need a visa to come to the United States from Mexico. I was so excited! I was going to get to show my cousins my life in Texas. We’d just moved into an apartment complex with two pools and a playground and we would ice skate and go to Six Flags and go to the mall! It was the first time any of my cousins visited me instead of the other way around. But Caren couldn’t come. She didn’t have this little piece of paper. There was no way to get it in time. She couldn’t come.
In which I definitively prove that my family is cute and clever
In May after going to Portland, I got to go to Mexico to visit my family. I went for my cousin Nolan’s wedding, which was beautiful and fun, and did I mention they are sooooo in love? And have been since high school? I was super excited for them to get married because a couple of years ago, Devin and I went on a double-date with Nolan and Anakaren. Afterward, I told Devin that I really wanted Anakaren to be my cousin-in-law. And this year Nolan made my wish come true. Such a good cousin, that one.
Whenever I spend time with my family, I get really happy and silly and want to tell everyone how much I love them and why. I could go on and on about the hilarious jokes my cousin Gaby makes or all the vegetarian recipes my aunt Minou teaches me or how when we laugh, the twenty of us sound like a barnyard full of clucking chickens. The problem is that my rambles can’t really communicate how it feels to have a large team of people who have known me my whole life and who love me and inspire me in countless ways. Maybe some day I will figure out how to say it, but for now, I’ll just share this prize-winning essay my cousin Carol wrote in 1995, at age 9.
In case you didn’t catch the fact that I’m from Mexico, please note that Carol wrote this in her second language at age nine. It’s neat to read this and know that the little girl who wrote that essay grew up to be an English teacher! Carol is also the mom of my niece Victoria, who will certainly grow up to be a polyglot genius.
Oh, and when the author mentions ‘Kristy’ in the above piece, she definitely means me. That’s pretty cool, too.
smoothliminal 