¡Scrabble en Español!

Game on!

Alright its been a few days and a lot has happened….let’s see, where do I start??  Oh yes!  I am happy to announce that Mama and I played a rousing game of Scrabble in Español!!!  If you don’t know, I love games, but Scrabble is my absolute favorite game to play.  I grew up with competitions between my parents, my big bro, and I …so its one of my favorite past times.  Anywhoo, the Cottes (whom I miss so much) gave me Scrabble en Español for Christmas.  Lucy said “So you can play with your grandma.”  I was excited but definitely unsure if grandma would be down to sit down and play a game.  And then, one night before we went to bed she turned around and said “Ok, tomorrow we’ll play that game you want to play.”  I threw my hands up and did a little touchdown dance and as she giggled I said “Yes!  ¡Vamos a jugar! (Let’s play!)  And so, the next day we squeezed a game in before our novela.  I am very happy to announce that we were so into the game that before we knew it we were 10 minutes late for the show.  I was beating grandma, but not by much.  She was just getting the hang of the game and I know in a short time, she will be kicking my butt and teaching me tons of new words!

Riding in style with grandma!

What else?  OOOH!  We bought a car! Its crazy how big purchases can be such a nerve-wrecking thing.   We went in, we were there for over an hour and a half.  And check this out…I negotiated the whole deal in Spanish…yes, ladies and gentleman, totally in Spanish (with some vocab help here and there from Mama) and left with a car!  While my grandmother knew the owner of the dealership, I STILL had to go back and forth about several things that I wanted fixed, needed included, etc.  I explained to her that unfortunately sometimes when you know people, they take that relationship for granted and assume that you will just go with the flow of what they are deeming to be correct or just.  Very easily I could have just given up and let them have their way because of the language barrier or because I was a young woman with her grandma who just wanted to make this purchase easy and painless.  Yep, sure, I wanted it to be easy and painless, but not at the expense of my confidence in this purchase.  I must say at some points during the negotiations I stepped outside of myself and thought ‘Really Mish?  You’re doing this?! Like did you just say that?  Are you really doing this in Spanish?! It was an awesome experience. Haggling in Spanish…SMH (shaking my head) unbelievable!

Now, I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous about my decision to purchase this vehicle or that I didn’t have reservations or thoughts that I could have either negotiated a better deal or should have gone elsewhere and gotten a different/better car.  But, I worked hard to cast those thoughts out of my mind.  What good were they doing me?  I made a decision.  The pros greatly outweighed the cons and a salesman will always be a salesman, at least we knew who we were dealing with.  Luckily, I was privy to points that I could touch on that would get through to this man (thanks to Mama filling me in on the history of their relationship).  What is the saying?  “Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t?”(something like that).

'06 Suzuki Aerio

I had to take a step back and acknowledge that this is the first car deal I’ve ever brokered on my own – in any language.  And so, sure there are things that I now know I could have looked for or said to probably get us an even better deal than we already got, but am I going to get up in arms over it?  Sure, I had to borrow money from my grandmother to purchase the vehicle.  And no, I’m not happy about that, but am I going to allow it to torment me?  Am I going to waste my days stressing over it and beating myself up, acting like I’m on borrowed time to pay her back?  At one point in my life the answer would have been "Yes" followed by a sigh full of stress.  At this point its "Heck naw!"  Here’s what I am going to do.  I’m going to learn from this experience and be better informed as well as better at the language next time around.  I’m going to give thanks that I have a grandmother who is willing and able to lend me money for a car.  I’m going to recognize that this car is a purchase that she is completely happy with (she already has a running list of the places she wants to go in it).  I'm going to pat myself on the back for an overall job well done.  Then, I’m going to check this purchase off my to do list and move onto my next action item, which is finding a job.  The job will open the door for paying Mama back.  I also know that she knows I am not that granddaughter.  She saw (and heard) my discomfort as I haggled with the car sales man explaining to him that while he may think I can just ask my abuela for more money, that is not an option and will not happen.  Her money is NOT my money nor should it be.  I am thankful for what she has already offered and anything past that is simply out of the question.  So, as Mama and I discussed on one of our many rides to Sam’s Club, we’re going to do this (this being the adventure we find ourselves in called life) poco a poco (little by little).  One step at a time, one foot in front of the other.  As a dear friend once said “This life is a marathon Mish, not a sprint.”  I made the big leap by packin’ up for Puerto Rico, now there’s nothing left to do but follow through, control what I can, and trust that everything will be fine.