We had another big storm this week! It seems that these storms are what define summer here. The days are gorgeous with blue sky and big white fluffy clouds, followed in the late afternoon by big purple and gray ones!
Then, of course, around 3 a.m. the storms hit. This week it was terrible again. A friend who lives down the hill from us -- a retired school principle from the East Coast in the United States, named Carol, went to bed as per usual. The next morning she heard someone knocking at her door early and could not figure who it would be. So she went out and it answered the door. It was her next door neighbor who told her about the terrible storm the night before which Carol had not even heard at all. The neighbor gently asked Carol if she was aware of the tree in her yard. So Carol turned to look at the huge pine tree that used to be there only to see the tree was totally uprooted, it had crashed through her perimeter wall, and came down on top if the neighbors van, fell across the street and hit two more cars and on the way down took out part of the roof on two houses across the street. Everyone affected was without electricity and had rather significant damage to their property --- except Carol. When she asked them when it happened, they told her it was around 2:30 in the morning. "Why didn't you come and tell me?" asked Carol. "Because you were sleeping and we didn't want to wake you!" they replied. Carol lives in a house surrounded by Mexicans. As many of her neighbors as could, including the children, were out that whole day with the police, the fire department, and their chainsaws, cleaning up her yard, cleaning up the street, bringing her food (remember she was the only one with electricity), and generally overall caring for the situation. Because the neighbors who lived right next door didn't have car insurance, their parked van that the tree hit first was pretty damaged. Carol found out how much it would cost to get it fixed and then paid them the money. They repeatedly told her she didn't need to do it, but she did it anyway! Carol said that only in Mexico would everyone come together like that and help her. Where she had lived in the States, it wasn't community. It was just people who didn't know each other living in close proximity. We all know it's not like that everywhere in the States, but it seems to be more like that for sure. There is something so wonderful about the normal Mexican and the normal Mexican community that warms your heart. They are the dearest people and care so much about "the other" and they come together and help each other out when the going gets rough! I'm so glad to be a part of this place and to see the caring that goes on with them. They are awesome.
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