Alina, my mom and Me. Miami, Florida. 1963 Havana, Cuba. Late 1960. Word was getting around that the new self-appointed governors of the island, those bearded rebels led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevarra were now planning to take away parents' authority over their own children. The parents would no longer have any say as to where or when their ...
Finding Nemo (and everything else, too.)
It's not like I don't already have enough projects going on in my life. But this one I couldn't resist. If you're the holder of a Disneyland Passport (which we are) this will be as familiar a sight to you as it is to us.Most of our friends are also passholders and Lovers of All Things Disney.So last week Helen (my niece) calls me: "It's ...
Accidents will happen. . .
I've been blogging about Cuban food over at Babalú for a whole year now. A WHOLE YEAR.That's a lot of Cuban Food.That's a lot of cooking.That's a lot of pictures.So I made a Panetela Borracha to celebrate.It's basically homemade pound cake soaked in a sugar/rum syrup.I'm talking SOAKED.And I had a bit of rum left over.So I grabbed a Coca-Cola and a ...
Standing room only
There were about two hundred people at my brother-in-law's memorial service. I've never seen a chapel so packed out for a funeral. All of them came to the reception afterwards.I took this photo after about half had already left.Yes, that's Shawn Green, the baseball player, in the middle of the room. Who didn't Rafael know??More importantly, ...
Tormentillo turns 30!
Aren't they adorable?This is my favorite group of girls EVER.My daughters and their cousins, my nieces. My dad used to say, "I always thought my daughters were the most beautiful women in the world . . . until they had daughters of their own." I often think of him in relation to these girls. How he was so proud of each one. How he loved ...
Designer Genes
If you're a regular reader of this blog, you're probably wondering where my mom has been. She's been in Miami.For the last MONTH.Visiting her big brother.Did I mention that she just turned 94?Her big brother, my uncle Fernando, is 97 (and lives alone, BTW). WHAT ARE THESE PEOPLE MADE OF?? (and did I get any of those genes?) I haven't talked ...
On belonging
Amy likes to think she's adopted. (she's not) She protests that she doesn't look like anyone in the family. I insist that all four of them look just like me. . . when they smile.I think they inherited more personality than looks from me, but that's not important right now. The Darby family. But then I remember I used to say that all the time ...
Life finds a way
We have been very lucky in my big, fat, Cuban family. We always seem to equalize when we lose someone. What I mean by that is that when there has been divorce or death, it is inevitably followed by a wedding or a birth. "God gives. God takes. God's name be ever blessed." ...
The sweet part
My brother, Rudy, and his beautiful wife, Carmen flew in from Texas yesterday - for the funeral. "I'm going to make arroz con pollo," Amy declared authoritatively. (She made enough arroz con pollo to feed the small army that is my big, fat, Cuban family, but that's not important right now.) First, Eric and I arrive with the ...
Love and Death
The grief is a funny thing. It seems to come out of nowhere and wrap itself tightly around me without letting go making it impossible to breathe.Just as suddenly it drops its clutches from around my chest and life goes on - business as usual.That has been the rhythm of my days this past week. I've been consumed by grief over the passing of ...
