Sleep-Talker

When I was a newlywed, oh so many decades ago, my then husband would talk in his sleep- in Spanish.  Those jittery, sleepless, newelywed nights,  caused me to question the wisdom of the  Flour Bluff Independent School District curriculum makers as to how I got thru grade school never taking a Spanish class and thus only picking up a few phrases like Buenos días, Cómo estás?, and Cómo te llamas? , none of which I ever heard him utter,  as I grabbed the #2 yellow pencil and notepad I kept stashed on my side of the bed to frantically scratch out his mumbo-jumbo. My Spanish speaking friend GiGi Guzman would do her best  to interpret who the man of my dreams was so passionately sleep-talking to in his romantic latin lover accented man voice.  Much to my relief  GiGi said most of it made no sense and sounded like he was fussing with his crew on the flightline, at work.  

I was thinking about my sweet, fun, fellow teenage single Mom, partner in crime, nursing school classmate,  recently and just for grins & giggles googled her name.  The Corpus Christi newspaper obuituary did not do her justice as I starred in regretful, sad, disbelief.  I moved away from my Corpus Christi home over 20 years ago, before facebook and before cell phones kept us more connected.  It was so easy to just lose people back then and I will never get over losing GiGi like that. It seems she passed away in 1999. No wonder my attempts to find her over the years were futile. I have told myself repeatedly, as I talk to myself all the time, that you just cannot keep up with every one! GiGi and I hit it off the first week of nursing school, single Mom's, living with our parents, determined to make a good life for our daughter's. We both had an independent spirit with a deep sense of responsibility for  the beautiful babies we created. That being said, we were also sorta plagued with a wild streak a mile long we fought constantly to control.  We helped each other study hard and encouraged each other thru difficult times. We even started a Single Mother's group at DelMar college with the Dean's permission. Being a single Mom was still a bit scandelous and harshly judged back then but GiGi and I were proud of our children and determined our girls would grow up to be proud of us.  

Maybe someday I will get to see Kristen, GiGi's daughter and tell her some fun stories about her amazing, smart, forward thinking, wisdom beyond her years, Mother.  

I still do not speak Spanish. Sorry GiGi. The next man I marry will just have to not be a sleep-talker.  

Good Nite. kisses