Greetings! We are incredibly impressed with the amount of writing many of you are sharing with us each week, thank you. We would like to welcome you readers back for another double issue of writing and art from our amazing friends – young and old – inside and outside of the system. We are also incredibly grateful to you writers who are embracing this opportunity for the first time. The chance to have your voice heard is important. To tell your story is important and to educate your take on our topics means plenty to us and our many readers. Thank you. This week we have our friend OT back sharing his thoughts to give us his latest, as he too is a vital part to the success of our publication and the production of our work each week.
This is OT reporting live to you from the land of grand lakes that shakes, (we recently had an earthquake) beautiful Managua, Nicaragua. First, of let me go ahead and extend a warm embrace to you all and let you know that you are not alone. We’re all in this together. It’s great to see you all expressing yourselves through your writing and that motivates me even more to continue to write my own thoughts and emotions.
This week I’m going to go ahead and write about something personal. I want to go ahead and reflect on a topic that stroke a chord with me and if I could relive one day over again, I would relive it 100 times over like the Groundhog Day movie.
The day that I wish to re-live would be February 7th, 2010. This was my last year out free in the Bay Area before I caught my federal case. This was probably one of the worst and best years of my life. By this time, I had my twin daughters with me almost 24/7. My baby mama gave the trust and vote of confidence that I worked so hard to obtain from her to have my daughters with me almost every single day.
On this special day, several things happened. First, let’s start off with the fact that it was Super Bowl Sunday, The Saints vs the Indianapolis Colts. What a great game, two legends going at each other, Drew Breez Vs Peyton Manning. It was also my twin daughter’s birthday, Mariellena and Esella.
On this special day, it took a lot of planning and also well, let’s just say patience, because I invited a lot of people, especially kids. I wanted to go all out for my daughters’ fourth birthday so I rented out one of those Inflatable Jumper thingy’s for the kids.
So the day started off by me calling all the guests to make sure they were coming to know exactly how much food was needed. I invited lots of people from The Beat and The New America Media office and some actually showed up, with their kids! I will not say any names, because there were a lot of guests, but you guys are a part of one my favorite memories.
I would say close to forty people showed up. My mom made Arroz a la Valenciana (it’s a famous Nicaraguense Dish. It’s like fried rice, with shredded chicken, chopped up sausages, and a variety of vegetables like peas, carrots, chopped celery and one of the main ingredients, because the rice comes out orange, would be Ketchup. That plate is delicious and famous at parties because it’s really fulfilling and it’s served with dinner rolls. It’s hearty.
I ordered like 15 boxes of pizza for the kids. We ordered chicken wings, because you can’t be watching the Super Bowl without no wings! My auntie, (my mom’s sister) would make a big bowl of Shrimp Cocktails that we would serve to everybody with hot sauce and crackers. That dish was the hit of the party. There was plenty left over still for the next day!
Now you get a sense of outline of the day, let me tell you how the day went. So, I was in charge of giving out the drinks, beers (Coronas) for the adults and Coca-Cola for the kids. I spend most of the day, playing in the jumper with all the kids. I must admit, I was the only adult in the Jumper thing wrestling with all the kids. All the kids found it fun to just tackle me and jump on me and before you know it, I had like 15 kids including my daughters and my baby sister(same age) piled up on top of me.
Boy were they heavy, my back and neck were hurting as the majority of the kids were summer-saulting off the walls of the Jumper and landing straight on top of me. Some of those sneaky little kids poked my eyes a few times, but just hearing the laughter of my daughters and my baby sister, and even just hearing all the other kids laughing and having fun, was enough for Super-Dad to push that kryptonite aside for just another couple of hours. What can I say? I have a soft spot for kids.
I don’t remember what I got my kids for their birthday, but I remember buying them all three including my baby sister matching bikes. Even though it was a lot of work not only giving attention to all the guests to make sure they were having a good time, and balanced my time to get jumped by all the kids in the Jumper house. The day went by fast and game time was approaching.
One of the things I was most proud of was the fact, that my aunt and my mom were on “non-talking” terms for a petty argument they had. They are pretty close. They’re sisters. They had went like eight months without speaking with each other and my Aunt, who made the hugmongous bowl of cocktail shrimp, didn’t want to show up.
She told me that she didn’t know how my mom would react and I made her show up, and when they saw each other they cried and hugged and apologized to one another for their stupid argument. I was proud at the fact that I was able to reunite my mom and my aunt through this special day because my aunt is like a second mother to me. So, it meant the world to me for them to stop the beefing.
Gaaaame-time. This was the party for the adults. The kids were outside playing tag in the courtyard, and we were on the second floor so we could still all see what they were doing. They were all jacked up off all the candy and chocolate. Every kid got a big ole bag of chocolates, candies, lollipops and a toy, so the kids were straight!
The game was great. I remember me and David texting back and forth through the whole game as he was sending me good wishes. We all expected a shoot-out between Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, but at half time the Colts were up 10-6. It was a defensive game by that point.
I remember rooting for Peyton Manning, but also didn’t mind if the Saints won their first Super Bowl, and they did! The Super Bowl for New Orleans meant everything for the fans since they were still recovering from Hurricane Katrina, which killed couple thousand people and left hundreds of thousands without homes, so it was a feel-good story ending. (Speaking of prayers and good thoughts to those in Louisiana, as they have just recently survived another horrible hurricane, Hurricane Ida).
The party went great with no problems. You know the kids went to sleep early that night! It was a great day and night all the way around. My daughters were happy, my little baby sister was happy, all the kids were happy, I still remember everyone that showed up from work, some of the homies, and homegirls with their kids and it was a real family event. This was one of my favorite memories, I appreciated every moment of it, as if it were going to be the last time I would get to spend with my family.
Unfortunately, that was the last birthday I was able to celebrate with my daughters, because I ended going to Federal Prison for four and half years and then got deported, and I haven’t been able to see them physically in person ever since. I hate to spoil this great memory with the reality of my situation, but under no circumstance do I want this to end as a tear-drop story.
To everyone that’s going to do some time, listen up folks, remember that you will get back out to your fam. Have a good time with them. Have a great time with your kids, your brothers, your sisters. Stop all the funking. If you can bring peace amongst your family, do it. I know a lot of families have problems for a variety of reasons because mine still do till this very day. But you can’t expect to bring your community together without starting with your loved ones first.
This is my favorite day that I would love to repeat, and this is a small sample of how you could use my story, as motivation to appreciate every moment with your loved ones, like it’s your last. Don’t take it for granted. I want you all stay strong and motivated, and I am signing out with all the love and respect in the world to you all! One love ladies and gentlemen! OT Signing out…and The Beat keeps going and going…