My husband's cousin's son (got it?) graduated from college recently and on Saturday they had some friends and family over for a traditional Puerto Rican pig roast. I haven't met some of his family and I'm not Hispanic so there were two things I knew I was going to have to overcome: I don't speak Spanish and I'm not 20-something years old.
I feared about how I'd engage with people who don't speak English as a first language and what could I possibly offer to this new crowd of college graduates? I can't really talk student loans or internships any more, and I'm fighting for my next job just as hard as some of them.
It was a lot to handle at one time.
Amazingly, neither of those things mattered because what I learned from those 20-something year olds is that they are paying it forward. They are motivated. They are inspired. They wear their causes on their hats, their T-shirts and their rubber wristbands. They are laughing hard, playing hard, and willing to talk about dreams and goals.
I listened in part English, part Spanish to their parents talk about raising children, finding jobs, serving in the military, and overcoming addiction. They never complained. They tried their best to communicate with me and every single one put their hand out to shake mine or give me a hug as a welcome.
I don't think I realized driving to this celebration how impressed I was going to be by the conversations I was about to have. I sat on a folded chair, in a modest backyard, among 99% Latino men and women playing dominoes and listening to Spanish music among Brazilian neighbors and Caucasian neighbors only a handshake away and I didn't want to leave. No judging. No ego-trips about their job titles or how much revenue their companies made last quarter. Just family, friends and talk about how to make it better for the next generation and wondering if they can make a change.
And it was so damn refreshing.
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