Pablo the Prime Mexican Man

 My mom and I were talking a few weeks ago about the importance of stories. I was talking about my great, great, great (or something like that) grandpa and grandma who seemed like they could have had an absolutely timeless love story (he being a guy who walked over 100 miles to mark trees that were ready for harvest each year and she being a British school teacher). We don't know any details about them though because through the generations, their stories have been lost. We have no clue how exactly they met, what their courtship looked like, or how everything took place.

 In the last year my grandma on my mom's side, her health has been fading so whenever we go over to North Dakota, I have started to ask her more questions about different things. It's been wonderful learning more about my grandpa who died before I was born and their love story as well as some other family history. 

 See, if we don't pass down our little stories, don't write them down or tell them by mouth, eventually everything will be forgotten. So I decided to start writing down some of my own stories, just little memories and special things from my short life. Here is the first of them and I hope you enjoy! 

Pablo the Prime Mexican Man

 I could not tell you the first time I saw his face come across the television or the first time I heard that name – but somewhere in my preschool days I first watched a TV show that would change my life forever and make me infamous with my extended family. Those of you hard-core PBS lovers may remember the show Zoom.

 Oh Zoom… you half an hour of entertaining education! I miss you terribly. You were the one that first introduced me to Pablo… Pablo – you had me at Ubby Dubby. What’s so important and life changing about Pablo you ask? Well it’s truly very simple. In my three or four year old mind, a husband was created.

 Some children have pretend friends. I had a pretend husband.

 Oh and not just a pretend husband, I also had about one hundred pretend children (some also named after Zoom characters like “Zoë”) and don’t forget that I was the queen of Ea Land. Ea Land was the world that my brother and I created based off of my nickname Ea (said “ee-ah”). And what a beauteous world it was! I was the amazing ruler with Pablo by my side and it was a wonderful several years that I spent in marital bliss.

 Now when I would go to visit my grandma and my cousins, word leaked about Pablo and my undying love towards him. It became common to be asked, “where’s Pablo?” and I remember one time vividly explaining that he went to get gas. My aunt’s brother in law Scott was particularly fond of Pablo and up until I was about ten, he asked whenever he saw me about him. It has forever formed a special bond between us.

 Then, time went on and I realized that most six-year-olds didn’t have pretend husbands, a fact that saddened me. Eventually, I became embarrassed by my handsome Mexican man, which today I am embarrassed about. So in my mind, I made Pablo die because of course a divorce was out of the question. I never really mourned for him or put on a funeral, but slowly as that vivid imagination of a little child diminished inside of me, Pablo did as well.

 As it goes with many things, when you step away from them long enough you are able to love them again. And so, today Pablo holds a very dear and special place in my heart as my first love. Someday, Lord willing, my true and not-so-pretend Pablo will come along and sweep me off my feet. Whether he is black or blond with blue eyes, he will be my Pablo and my family will never let me forget it.