Puff Pieces by Adrian: Words to My Baby

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Words to My Baby

After writing my “baby classes” post, I thought it necessary to mention something about becoming a father, as this life event will without doubt be the most significant thing to ever happen to me.

I am having a daughter soon, and she was planned and purposely tried for. Still, even with such planning, the realism as you can imagine, or maybe already know, is sobering and life changing. I could not be happier with the fact that we will be adding a human life, made up from both myself, and my amazing partner in life. Like everyone else, I have so many lofty hopes and dreams for her, but when it comes down to it, I just want her to be happy, and live life to the fullest. I want her to try her best at whatever she does in life, even if those things are not what I planned for her, like being a doctor, lawyer, or astronaut. If she wants to be a truck driver, then she better be the best truck driver this world has ever seen. If she wants to work on an oil rig, then she better be the best damn rigger the oil platforms have ever seen! Of course, I will hope that she will choose something sensible like becoming a nun or America’s top female heart surgeon, but she will find out that I will support her in anything. If she chooses something that is truly harmful or evil, then it will by my failure as a father.

Anyways, this is a letter that I wrote in her journal a few months ago, before I knew that she would be a “she”:

Peanut, my dearest baby, hello. I am your father. I write this to you, so that you may know, just how you came to be. By God’s will, and the magical force of cosmic destiny, your mother and I have come together to form the deepest love and passion that I have ever known and felt in this world. It is born from this love and passion that we share, and with all of our hopes and dreams, that we bring you into this world.

I don’t know you yet, and if you are a boy or girl does not matter because you were made out of love, and you will always be my baby, our baby. I promise to take care of you, and teach you to be strong. I promise to love you, and teach you everything that I know. I ask nothing of you, but to always try hard to be the best that you can be. If you do this, then I know you will be happy, and it will be ok, because your happiness already means the world to me.

You will share in our passion for all that is life, the good and bad, to work and to create, and to help make the world a better place. You may be like your mother, the greatest woman that I have ever known, and have great compassion for animals and want to save them. You may have her fierce temper, boisterous laugh, and artistic and creative ability. You may be like me, calm and collected, deep, thoughtful, and intelligent. You may be all of these things, none, or some.

My baby, Peanut, I want you to know that you can be anything in this world, and this I truly believe. I’ve seen the beauty in this world, and the amazing human spirit, where creativity, imagination, work, and perseverance melt into one. You shall never be afraid, because you are part of us, and we will never let you be alone, and together we will always be. Together, we will sing and dance, laugh and play, work and think, and always be one family wherever life takes us. I love you so much already. I can’t wait to meet you. – Love, Daddy.

PS. I hope you like dogs ☺

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Revolution of the Soul. A Mission Statement.

I am by default, and through no fault of my own, different. I’m not out cruising the boulevard on the weekends, blasting oldies-but-goodies with the homies. I am also not listening to rock en Espanol, speaking in Spanish-only with my friends. I could fit into either stereotype perfectly though, and to an outsider, I probably appear to be from either or both worlds. I have brown skin, which is pretty much all it takes. It’s not that simple though, as others like me surely understand. I speak some Spanish but I also speak perfect English. I went to college. I love hamburgers and fries, and hip-hop, and alternative music. I have simply integrated into American culture from the start, because I was born here, and because I wanted to.

I’m glad that I’m not still stuck in Mexico somewhere, growing up a third world existence, which statistically would have been the case, had my familia never come here. But I am glad to have come from a country and peoples with such a rich and vibrant history. There are many reasons having such a heritage is a good thing, and I am proud to be a part of it. I am glad to have been born here in America, and happy to be part of this system. I’m happier yet that I didn’t grow up as a cholo gang-banging, tagger, too-cool-for school type of guy, even though I’ve had plenty of chances, given my surroundings. That subculture is not all bad either, depending on the level of involvement and the choices one makes. In other words, you can look the part without being a thug, or a social, or immigrant, or anything else, que no? This is true of all life.

So even though I am different, I am by no means alone, and I know this. The problem for me is that I’m not seeing enough representation out there in the media. I’m not seeing a lot of works written, or filmed, for people like me. It annoys me, too, for a lot of political reasons, because our image is grossly misrepresented. Sure the gangbanger cholos are fun to include in film, because violence sells. However, that only perpetuates a false image. These days, it seems as though everyone in this country sees us either as cholos or as immigrants that refuse to assimilate, legal or not. This angers me because we are so many different things including a multitude of diversity within our own subculture. It’s pretty frickin’ beautiful, if everyone only knew…

Either way, I decided to make the changes I wanted to see, on my own. I’m writing stories for me, for you, and for everyone else, and my main characters are all Latino, and not just Mexican-Latino either. My stories are not about quinceaneras or growing up as a pocho in high school. They are not about crossing the border, or starting any revolutions. The only revolution I write about is the Revolution of the Soul. My stories are meant to entertain and inspire people, and hopefully many of you will relate to them in one way or another, and see yourselves there in them, wherever that may be.