The flight was great and uneventful. The cherry on top was Caroline's smiling face as we passed through the last customs station. Seriously, it was a blessing to just hug her. I didn't realize how much I truly missed her until she was right there, and we were back to our old ways. We waited for the Michigan State group of 30 and then loaded on the buses and headed to the property. When we arrived we proceeded to settle in and have lunch. After a quick tour the game plan was to help set-up and break-down for a birthday party of one of the children from the Casa Hogar Douglas. This was not just any old birthday party... Monica, the birthday girl, was turning 15.I have only heard about the 15th birthday in the Hispanic culture... there was also this one time that I saw My Super Sweet Fifteen. It was a special. It was an over-the-top celebration of greed, and I really never discovered the true meaning and importance of the quinciñera... until today. We set-up tables and tables and chairs and chairs!! Eighty children from Douglas arrived and soon enough the ceremony had started. It was very similar to a wedding procession. Everyone rises for the birthday girl, and then there are different stages and reciting and readings. She was STUNNING. One of the greatest moments was truly being able to see that she felt beautiful... it was such a strong feeling that you could almost feel yourself. Her face beamed with an unmistakable confidence. The confidence of knowing she is beautiful and knowing she is loved. Girls are insecure. We are constantly fighting with what we see in the mirror. We don't like it. But to see a girl that doesn't get much, get everything she's ever dreamed of... now that's amazing. You can just feel that.
After the ceremony was over, we served everyone dinner and then served ourselves. The meal was some kind of spicy. I mean burn your face off, welcome to Mexico kind of spicy. It was awesome. After dinner the whole group including children began to play games like we were at a reception for a wedding. Just a big circle and some people running around in pairs... or something like that. You had to pick it up really fast or you would definitely get left behind. After a while they kicked all of the kids out of the circle. It was awesome to get to just spend some time with the kids and play after everything began to wind down. I'm pretty sure the dancing didn't stop until 8:30 or maybe later, and I'm pretty sure it could have gone on for much longer. Crazy birthday parties, ya know.
We finished up the night with debriefing, which basically consisted of us just reflecting on the day and choosing one "picture" that we specifically wanted to hold on to. We also got a little more acquainted with the two guys that were going to be on the same schedule as us. With the day starting out for us at 4:30 am, we were very exhausted. Not only that, we lost two hours because not only did we fly into central time, but Mexico was not quite ready to spring forward.
I've never slept so well, honestly. I can thank the Lord for that one.
.kristen.
No comments:
Post a Comment