You Can Take the Girl Out of Mexico But...

By Margie Harrell

 

Sacred-Mtns-AjijicThe tears came the minute we started to load up the car for your return trip to the U.S. after living at Lakeside for over three years. This is silly, I thought but flow they did, for the next four days. My son, who had been elected to drive down to Ajijic to collect this sniveling mess, was beside himself. Between a nervous cat and a crying mother, this was not the Mexican vacation he had hoped for.

I have been “Stateside” for a week now and the tears have subsided a little but the questions remain. Why am I so affected at leaving Mexico? I have the radio tuned to a Spanish radio station and a postcard of the Ajijic plaza is prominently displayed in hopes a revelation will come to me and explain the empty feeling inside my heart.

I recently married a wonderful man and have started a happy life in his chosen town of Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a conscious decision on my part to return to the U.S. I was excited about starting a new life with my husband but... Mexico won’t let me go. It tugs at my heart strings every time I hear a Spanish melody or pass by a restaurant and smell refried beans cooking. The only people I talk to are the Mexican busboys and gardeners. My Spanish was never that good but it makes me feel great to “connect” with a fellow Mexicano and they seem delighted to be able to use their native tongue if only briefly.

Fortunately, I have a dear friend who recently moved to Austin, Texas, after living in Mexico for five years. She understands what I am going through and said it would take me about three months to go through my “grieving” process. Repeatedly I asked her why I was feeling like this after only three years in Mexico. Her answer was simple, and complicated also. “It is the music, the flowers, the smells and most of all, it is the people, the wonderful, warm, friendly Mexican people. No where else will you find such friendly people.” She is right, it is many things and all of them tug at your heart and soul.

I shall cry more tears over the next few months, of that I am certain. But I also know that I shall return, as someone famous once said. He did and I will too. Mexico, mi Mexico, ‘till we meet again.

 

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