Gems

I remember the telephone waking me up. It was late and I knew that noone would call our home at that time of night unless it was an emergency, or, as we had been waiting for nine months, my sister was having the baby. Her first. My parents were about to become grandparents and I, at twelve, was about to become an uncle. Uncle Val!!!

My mother and father got dressed quickly, dad made some cafe cubano and after a few minutes dad stood at my bedroom door and told me they were heading off to the hospital. My pleas and my "But dad I want to go's" were met with a stern "No. You have to stay here."

"As soon as we know something, we'll call you" my dad said right before leaving.

Now, it was the middle of the night and there were no 24 hour tv stations back then. Turning on the tv in those days at that time of night meant you were watching test patterns. I was electric. I couldnt go back to sleep now. So I turned on my stereo and started listening to music.

For a couple hours I had run of the house. The stereo was on full blast and I passed the time by literally running around the house and jumping up and down on my bed to the music.

In one of those moments were I sat on the bed to catch my breath, the phone rang. It was my father. He sounded giddy. Tired. Excited. "You're sister is fine," he said. "You are now the uncle of a beautiful baby girl!"

I was ecstatic. I was now Uncle Val. My first steps into manhood at the ripe old age of twelve.

Then, as I hung up the phone, the radio station's DJ came on and said he was about to play a brand new song from a brand new album. One of the best albums he had ever heard in his years in the music business. "Listen to this great tune from Stevie Wonder," he said.

And then the song came on. "Isn't She Lovely." Stevie Wonder's tribute to his newborn daughter.

That song and that day will be forever etched in my memory. It was sign from above.

A couple weeks later, and without any knowledge of my personal affinity for that particular song, my cousin Alex gave me the "Songs in the Key of Life" album for Christmas.

Twenty-Eight years later, I still get teary eyed whenever that song is played. And I remember the day Amanda was born vividly. Isnt She Lovely is her song.

Last week I sent my blogfather Dean Esmay a small care package for his birthday. It's the least I could do considering that Dean is the one responsible for my being here. He's the one responsible for there being a Babalu Blog.

It wasnt a fancy care package. I sent Dean a box of pastelitos from Gilbert's bakery. Guayaba, guayaba con queso, queso, mango, coco, piña, carne, chorizo, cangrejitos de jamon. I tossed in a couple of Cuban Crafter's top of the line cigars and a couple of Babalú tshirts. "Babalú eyes" as I like to call them. My aunt Amanda's eyes. My niece and goddaughter Amanda's namesake which neither of us ever met.

This morning, Dean IM's me a link to a post he wrote about a couple of gifts he recieved for his birthday that he loved. He mentions my modest care package. The pastelitos, the cigars and the Babalú eyes. And he mentions the story of how this blog got its name. How he and I went back and forth with blog names until we finally came up with one that was resonant, interconnected somehow with what this blog was going to be about - Cuba - and a name for it that would relate to many with Cuba. It would also serve as a kind of homage to Desi Arnaz, who is perhaps the greatest source of pride for Cubans. Had it not been for Dean, this blog may have been called something less universal and less appealing.

Dean also wrote about another great gift he received for his birthday last week. It was an album. And album by Stevie Wonder. An album called Songs in the Key of Life. An album featuring the song "Isnt She Lovely."

Some may call this a coincidence. Some will say it is just happenstance. But I have a different take on it.

It's a sign. A big, beautiful reminder of the fact that everything is intertwined. That everyone you meet in your life touches your life in some way. That there is some kind of purpose in the random.

It is, as I like to call it, one of life's little gems.

Posted by Val Prieto at July 21, 2005 07:58 AM

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Comments

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