Cubbies

I’m recapping events that happened since I’ve been back from my trip.  Needless to say, I’ve been thinking about my time there a lot.  Part of it is because that was probably the last time I was truly happy in a long time.  Sometimes life knocks you down a bit and you get lost in your thoughts.  I try my best to keep a positive attitude but these past events have broken my faith.  It is times like these that makes you want to be surrounded by loved ones.  I just want them to be safe. 

Our friend that has moved to California came back for a visit that following weekend.  I have to admit, I was glad to get together with friends.  My friend was constantly telling me news about Puerto Rico and the lack of communication with the towers being down.  She was falling apart and all I could do was try to keep her spirits up.  I had faith that people in Puerto Rico were coming together, even if we couldn’t see it for ourselves.  I was mesmerized by the images of people pulling out survivors in the Mexico earthquake.  I reassured her, too, that the same thing was happening there.  Our coworker had finally left out of Florida on a flight to San Juan but we knew we would probably not hear from her until she got back to work.  All I did was pray that week and tried not to get too anxious.  I had to be strong for my friend.

Our friend from California had an itinerary for us.  Since her only day to socialize with us fell that Friday, she understood how it might be difficult for some to get through rush hour traffic.  I met up with her and her friends after work at her favorite bar in Lakeview called Schubbas.  She wanted to go to Wrigelyville to see the marquee and then make her way over to Andersonville to a brewery.  We walked over to Wrigely Field and took a bunch of pictures before we had a drink at Murphy’s Bleachers.  The Cubs were on fire and Chicago couldn’t be more proud.  Obviously they are not going to the World Series but they did get close.  Some of her other friends had shown up but couldn’t find parking to join us.  We finished up our tab and jumped in their car to head over to the next spot.

At Half Acre Balmoral we grabbed a table and that’s where more people showed up.  We had some laughs and caught up with one another.  Our friend has a bubbly personality.  I forgot how much fun she is to be around.  I miss her a lot.

Once we finished up the tab, our other friend suggested Estero bar in Logan Square for those who wanted to continue the party.  Unfortunately our group got smaller, but other friends of hers met up over there instead.  There the silliness continued and we had a blast.  I realized how blessed I was to be around my girls, mostly Latinas who suffered from the news like I did.  Some had family in Mexico, others were waiting to hear from loved ones in Puerto Rico.  But tonight we were here to see our friend who misses us tremendously in California.  I need to book a trip soon over there…

Hurricane Maria

Hello everyone.  I come to you with a sad heart once again.  I will explain later.  I’ve been pretty emotional all weekend.  Even discussing it now hurts.  In the meantime, I will catch up to where I left off from my trip.  I can’t believe so much has happened since then.  It makes me anxious to know what the future might hold for me; let alone my friends and family.  Let’s recap.

I left England on September the 18^th to come back home to Chicago.  I made it in work that Tuesday the 19^th.  It was nice to be back ,but there were disturbing news coming from Mexico.  An earthquake hit, and it was a big one.  Here in Chicago we have a huge Mexican community, so needless to say, a lot of my friends were worried about loved ones back home.  But that’s not all.  My friend reached out to me to warn me about Hurricane Maria.  Yes, another hurricane was coming straight for Puerto Rico, and unlike Hurricane Irma, this one was going to make contact on Wednesday.  At first I thought she was joking.  I felt bad because she was very anxious about Irma and Puerto Rico got lucky with that one.  This time it was a different story.

That Wednesday at work, we were hosting our annual Hispanic Heritage breakfast.  Our committee got together early in the morning and started to decorate the atrium.  Looking back, I remember my co-workers hugging and consoling one another about the events that took place.  Friends were asking each other about families in Mexico and Puerto Rico.  Once we were ready, people from the firm came down to have different variations of coffee from different Latin American countries as well as sweet treats such as panes dulces and churros.  It dawned on me how much we love this place and how much it meant for us to put this together so people could enjoy their morning.  It also got me wondering if people noticed too, how much we love being here, especially with what’s going on in politics.  Do people here value us as much as we value them?  Then Maria happened.

I’m very saddened by the slow response that Puerto Rico has received.  Not to mention, I’ve sent two care packages to my friend’s dad and he has yet to have them delivered.  I’ve tried using sites such as Amazon, and Walgreens to deliver goods out there but to my surprise, have had trouble using his address in Puerto Rico.  It took over a week for post offices to be opened, not to mention having flights go in and out since the airport’s tower was severely damaged.  I had a co-worker fly out to search for her mother that weekend, only to have her flight get delayed for days in Florida.  I luckily had the chance to get some supplies for her before she left.  When she did come back a week later, she had horror stories of desperation.  What she saw out there changed her.  It will never be the Puerto Rico she had remembered.  

I kept in touch with my friend daily on the whereabouts of her dad.  Other co-workers did not hear from loved ones either for days.  It was an agonizing ordeal seeing my friends try to get some form of communication.  Luckily in the end, my friend’s dad reached out to her, but that was after 2 weeks of nothing.  Everyone around me was hurting.

I got a chance to hang out with my friends over that weekend I had been back from vacation.  One of them was flying out to Tokyo for her birthday and we all came over to help her pack.  It was nice being able to be around friends and vent out our frustrations.  On Monday I went to The Violet Hour to catch up with a friend over drinks.  He wanted to hear about my trip.  I also had to apologize over an incident that had happened that Wednesday when Maria hit.  He understood that he caught me at a bad time.  It was nice making amends.  Sometimes, you need to…

Cocktails at The Violet Hour is always a good idea.