Independence

Fourth of July in the US - excellent holiday, just in time for a homecoming feeling. My sister is home with the traditional barbecue that cannot be more special today. She's making it for her two sisters and me. It's weird to be back on Pocatello Rd just like every month of July for the last several years but so special with the company of Dudy and Lolita. The four siblings together in a distant land, with occasional fireworks interrupting the quiet suburban landscape of strong green hills. Pop Latino music in the background, weird, so weird. Their visit in the US, a dream come true for one, the investment of a lifetime for the other, and for me so much family warmth. The spacious yard, the old barn by the pond across the road, the hills in the background, and now the neighbors' fireworks. All Americans seem to celebrate the get-together of the Lizarragas. We have a lot to share, the bliss of shared laughter, the memory of childhood anecdotes, old trials and tribulations, and the loss of mom and dad, each gone with a twenty-six-year hiatus in between. Tomorrow we'll be walking along NYC streets and I'll see the city through their eyes. It'll sure look different, special... Maybe we'll reach our own independence of our intimate grief and will bring the memory of our parents to a place of celebration...