12 Years Ago Today

Twelve years ago this very day February 10th I moved to Austin, Texas from Tampico, Mexico. Maybe the toughest two years of my life began that afternoon. Moving to Austin was a very harsh change in my life. Even though I knew English, I hadn't perfected it (not that I have yet). I actually barely knew English back then, I remember being at the classroom and not talking to anyone, I would sit the farthest away from anyone who would want to speak to me. I also remember sitting on the lunch table with the "cool" guys (who had surprisingly taken me under their arm, I guess they saw my potential...lol) and not saying a single word because I was so afraid of them and of this new culture. I just couldnt get my friends and my life from Mexico out of my head. I would cry at nights and was miserable throughout the week with nothing to look forward to.

Well let me explain what I was going through before I moved to Austin. I was twelve years old but that in Mexico is like 14 years old in Austin, or at least where I grew up, Westlake. I'm saying this because when I was twelve I was already going to parties where the boys and the girls would dress up and try to make out, and Im not saying this doesnt happen in USA at that age but you have to understand, we were already driving cars, drinking alcohol, bringing girls back home and hanging out with the 18 year olds and we were just twelve!!! I used to believe that I was a grown up and my friends were going to be the people I would see often for the rest of my lives... I was going through all that before I moved to Austin. And what happens when I move to Austin??? I have no friends, except maybe my brother. My mom and dad would work all day, something that they hadnt done all my life. I used to ride the bus for over 90 minutes just to get to school because I used to live in an area where the schools were shit (Stassney and Pleasant Valley) and my mom wanted me to go to Hill Country which is the middle school in Westlake. So where in Mexico I was the king of the world, in Austin I was pretty much nobody and it really was hard. Oh did I mentioned that I was totally in love with this one girl that winter that I moved to Austin. I used to have all these dreams about her when I had already moved to Austin. haha.

Hahaha... i just remembered something about the night my dad told us that we were moving to Austin. We all gathered at my parents bedroom and the lights were off and my dad had been alone for a while, now that I think about it he had been crying and was having a very hard time thinking of how he was going to tell his 9 and 12 year old kids that we were going to move to Austin. But anyways, my mom was quiet next to me and my dad started speaking about the economy (no shit!! the economy... 12 years ago here we are talking about the economy but in a different country) and how bad his business was going and he finally blurred it out, "We are moving to Austin as soon as we can." And here is the funny thing, you know what my brother said?!?! You know what he fuckin said?!?! "Oh yes!! This has been the dream of my life!" Hahaha!! Can you believe it?!? Ah 9 year old twat!!! I was fuming!! Fuckin furious!! And he starts telling us about how it has been the dream of his life!! hahaha. Oh Ricky, how much I love that kid. But anyways, that was that. Rickys dream at 9 was my worst nightmare at 12.

Back to life when I had just moved to Austin. On August (six months after stepping foot in Austin) of 1997 I met my best friend of all my life. Kurt moved from Guadalajara, Mexico that very summer. I think we met the very first week of school but it might had been the second. We were in PE and the whole class was playing basketball and there were two kids who just couldnt play the game and that was Kurt and me. Afterwards, Kurt walked up to me and asked me if I was from Mexico. I said, "YES!! How did you know??" And he replied in Spanish, "I was looking at you as you played basketball and you suck!!" So Kurt and I became best friends that very day and we have been since. I guess it is because we went through the same change and harsh times and used each others company to make it to the end. And we really didnt have anybody else in school. I still remember being afraid of him missing school because that meant that I would be alone for the school day.

I also grew up and matured at a very young age. My parents couldnt speak English and you know who would call the phone companies?? the apartment complex?? the insurance company?? the cable?? the electricity?? ME. I became the best translator I knew back then. Through that I found out all about my parents financial problems and I would worry about it all the time. Ah man, it was hard. I was just twelve years old. And I was already worrying about money. What the fuck??

On new years eve of 1997 I told my dad as we drove alone to my aunts place, "This has been the worst year of my life." My dad broke down in tears in front of me right there. I felt good about it, I wanted to make him feel bad about bringing me into this shitty life. I really was selfish, I just wouldnt see the big picture. All the sacrifice that they were also making, everything that they gave up for my brother and my future. I really was an idiot back then, but the truth is that I really was a good kid and I payed them back that way. Big soccer star, staying off drugs and alcohol, hanging out with the good kids, or must I say good kid because from Feb 10th 2007 to September of 2008 I only had one friend and that was Kurt. I owe my dad, my mom, my brother, Kurt and his family all the support that they brought me through those harsh years of my life. The thing is, it wasnt just me, they were going through harsh times as well and I think thats why we coped so well.

Twelve years later I see my life and I am happy about it all. I did learn a lot at a very young age and that helped me mature very quickly as a person. I do have amazing friends right now and I finished college, something that at one point in my life might had been impossible. I truly believe I would had been a shit person if I hadnt moved to Austin, I truly believe that.

God bless America.... and Mexico

Sir Apple Biter

P.S. Sorry about the rambling and out of order scenario but I dont feel like editing.


(Listening to The Smiths)

"Ive seen this happen in other people's lives and now its happening in mine." - The Smiths