20

As of today, September 9th, the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and I are no longer the parents of any teenagers. The Boy, or more appropriately, The Missionary Formerly Known As The Boy - TMFKATB for short - turns 20 years old today.

I'm not quite sure for whom this is a bigger deal, him or us. For us, it is certainly the end of an era. No more teenagers. All our children are, by law and by deed, adults and are doing the things young adults do. It's just weird not to have a teenager anymore. For him, I have an idea of what he may be going through. Like him, I turned 20 in the mission field and it was hard. I felt like I was now officially old (my gosh...the perspective of youth!) and had no idea what was ahead of me, other than a day of knocking doors on South Beach (yes, THAT South Beach - suffice to  say it was a far different place thirty years ago than it is today). I wonder if a Puerto Rican family will knock on his apartment door at 7:00AM like they did the day I turned 20, bearing frijoles negros and a cake? I'm thinking not.

It will be a good day for him. When the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML was behind the Zion Curtain last month, she made sure to drop off a birthday box at his mission office. He'll celebrate appropriately as a result. He always manages to have a good time no matter where he finds himself. That's one of the many things that we love about him.

Like his older sisters, he has brought us an immeasurable amount of joy. We are proud of him, not just on his birthday, but every day. I'm proud of the sacrifice he's making right now as a missionary. I know he'll be a different young man as a result when he is home in a year. It's exciting and it's an honor to watch it happen. I'm lucky to be his dad.

Happy birthday, son.

The King of Little Cottonwood Canyon

Laboring as a missionary

"Stop making that face or it will stay that way." So says his mother.

Today is Labor Day, a day that celebrates the contributions of workers to improve the country and themselves. Let me just say right now we are not going to plunge into a discussion of what unions have done to the American workplace, so Mittites, calm down. This is not what this is about at all.

Rather, it's about TMFKATB as he labors behind the Zion Curtain today in the mission field. It's his P-Day, or day off, so like the rest of the country, he gets to rest from his labors for at least part of the day today. His weekly letter brought not a lot in terms of news. It's transfers this week and his companion is heading home, having completed his two years of service, so we thought we'd hear of his new assignment or a new companion but nothing yet. He might send an update at the end of his P-day later today.

He's nearly at his year mark or halfway point of his two-year service. He doesn't seem to be counting. Instead, his letters, and today's was no different, reflect a focus on what he's doing and the people he's serving. He had a bunch of questions for me about my trip last week to Mexico City. He loves the people of that country. Amazing what an impact those eight months living and serving there had on him. If he has it his way, we'll be heading down there when he gets back. There are a lot worse things you could do than hang out with your son south of the border, eating tacos and taking it all in from his perspective.

I hope by then I will have regained my cast iron stomach. It was a thing of legend and has served me well, allowing me to savor the flavors of the world, literally, with nary a care for, oh I don't know, things like cleanliness or what the meat I was ingesting really was. Dog? Pigeon? It really didn't matter. Well, apparently now that I am solidly middle aged, that stomach has thrown in the towel. Suffice to say, things have not been pretty since I got back from Mexico City. I blame the removal of my gall bladder last year, which is stupid, since it's a useless organ that you don't need. So, I have just over a year to pull it together and get my stomach back to fighting condition. This is going to be fun.

On Mexico City

El Angel de la Independencia

As noted in my excuse for posting the letter from TMFKATB, I spent all last week in Mexico City for work. Can I just go on record on how much I enjoy this sprawling, chaotic world capital? It's an amazing place. It is a place that never disappoints and that was certainly the case again this trip.

The days were long and busy, but when you are working with some really great people and have a view like the one in the picture to the left, you get by. My company's office tower sits on the Plaza de la Reforma, one of the main drags in the city, and overlooks the famed statue, El Angel de la Independencia. Meetings took me to different parts of the city and it was fascinating to take it all in.

It is city, like many big metropolises, where every street, every corner tells a different story. Perhaps due to TMFKATB eight months living in this country, I was a little more sensitive to what was going on around me. This was particularly true as I walked through the area around my hotel each night. This led to dinner one night at an amazing Yucatanese restaurant and then on my last night there, a gorging dinner at my favorite taco joint in the whole of the city, El Caminero. The tacos there are about a buck a piece and they are nothing like the "tacos" one gets at Whack in the Crack for .99 a piece. No, the ones at El Caminero are, unlike those from the aforementioned Whack, in fact delicious and are not a lump of carne misteriosa that looks more like a sebaceous cyst in a sealed shell. They are amazing.

I was the only Americano at el Caminero the night I ate there and I loved taking in a futbol match on the TV with several other patrons. It was fun to talk with them about the game and to have them ask me if I was Cuban (my DNA may say otherwise but in my soul, I'd like to think si, soy un poco Cubano). As I spent time there and with my Mexican colleagues, I was reminded of the many letters from TMFKATB speaking of his love for this people. I get it.

Speaking of TMFAKTB, while he was still serving in Tuxtla Gutierrez, he sent us a picture of some cookies that he insisted we had to try. Over the next few months, we tried to find them everywhere, except of course here in the state in which we live because we live under the iron fist of Martha Stewart and there's no way that would be allowed. No way. Anyway, after a tear through several straight out of Mexico markets in the Phoenix-area, I was told that the maker did not import that specific cookie to the States. So my only mission on this trip, besides El Caminero, was to find those friggin' cookies. I tried for three days and every tienda or bodega I went into did not have them. Finally, on my fourth and final night, in a driving rainstorm in which the side streets of Mexico City turned to rivers, I went into an OXXO and there they were - the last two bags of said cookies in the whole place. Here's the proof:

Mission Accomplished!

They really are good, by the way. One package will make it's way behind the Zion Curtain to a certain young man here sooner rather than later.

As I left Friday morning, I got a little emotional in the Mexico City Airport as they repeated the final boarding call for the first flight to Tuxtla Gutierrez no fewer than four times. I thought of what was going through The Boy's mind nearly one year ago when he first stepped foot in that same airport awaiting a flight to Tuxtla. He was a brand-new missionary, barely speaking a word of Spanish. He called us one final time from that airport that day and it was safe to say he was a little overwhelmed. What a difference a year makes! The eight months he was in Mexico will benefit him the rest of his life.

And I, for one, am looking forward to years of playing "Whose Spanish is Better?" with him. Bring it on!

On not blogging from an iPhone

I returned last night from a five day business trip to Mexico City. It was a great week where I was able to pay righteous homage to the wonder of the street taco (more on that for another post, no doubt). It's safe to say I love me some Mexico City.

My week there did point out the one flaw in my decision to ditch the iPad for my iPhone 6+. Turns out it makes for one craptastic platform for blogging.  I tried to get the weekly update from TMFKATB posted but that didn't go well for a host of reasons, like these:

• My fat fingers made typing out his letter an invitation to early onset arthritis
• My unwillingness to pay international data roaming charges made it difficult to post at will. As information, playing the game of "Gambling for Free WiFi" in Mexico City is a losing proposition

As I look at those two examples, I think I may have been too hasty in blaming the iPhone for the blogging challenges of the last week. I think it may be a bit more of a case of user error. I'm not shocked by that turn of events, to be honest.

What was not shocking was this week's letter from TMFKATB. He and his companion had a good week, with opportunities for service and teaching. He was really happy with the fact that they had met this goals they had set for themselves during the week. As someone who has had the chance to serve in two missions, TMFKATB is gaining a different perspective. He shared this:

In Mexico, I got humbled by people's situations, but even here there are many families that have had, or are having, super tough lives. It's not all perfect here in the U.S. Most just try to work and help their families in other countries.

It's not perfect anywhere, for sure. There's something powerful in recognizing that your own country in spite of being tough, is still a beacon of hope for so many from all over the world. I wonder what would happen if a certain bigoted blowhard megalomaniac who is currently headlining the U.S.  Republican clown car race presidential campaign spent a day with the TMFKATB and his companion. He might learn something. Ah, who am I kidding...