Spanglish Day

The Monday after Mother's Day, my two Hispanic friends, Maria and Luisa, took my aunt-in-law and I out for coffee and lunch. That may sound a little strange, but it all makes sense, really. My aunt-in-law (Aunt D) is/was a missionary's kid (MK) so she speaks Spanish. (OK, so she's not exactly a kid anymore, since she has three adult children of her own.) She teaches these ladies Sunday School and Wednesday night Bible study. In fact, she's the one who introduced me to "Maria", my special buddy. "Maria" introduced me to "Luisa" and I've been teaching both ladies ESL. I'm also working with them on a new Hispanic Church Planting committee. (That's Luisa behind me and Maria and Aunt D to the right.)

Maria and I have been friends now for three years, and there are so many things I can talk to her about. She is incredibly encouraging and has an inspiring story. She's also a mother of three young boys, so I'm not going to shock her with anything my kids can come up with or any of my questions. She's a very good cook and I never leave her house empty-handed. She will always find something in the fridge or on the stove to share.

Luisa has four kids (two of each) and is also a great help to have around. She, too, is an excellent cook, and I love the food she brings over on class days. She teaches me how to do Mim's hair and warns me about the future with a little girl. (She also warns Maria about the future with little boys. Maria's scared.)

Anyway, we all had a wonderful morning. We went to W'ville and drank some coffee (Well, they did. I had hot chocolate.) and went to Wal-mart for gardening supplies. Like true friends, we talked each other into buying things we probably didn't need. Then we ate lunch at a surprisingly good little Chinese place.

We jabbered away in mostly Spanish, but we laughed at each other for our Spanglish, which was used just as frequently by the native speakers as by Aunt D and I. All in all it was a lot of fun to just be ladies instead of mommies for one morning, and I hope we can do it more often as our children all get into school.