Pero los ninos son para mi corazon...

I work SO MUCH to fund this trip. I work in an office during the day, and bartend nights. And I work in my mom's shop doing odds and ends on the nights I'm not bartending or making a feeble attempt at a social life. I have one day off every other week. But it's all good - I have one more job that makes every day worthwhile.

I volunteer with a Guatemalan family in Langley Park, MD 3 nights a week. They had triplet boys back in September, but the mother contracted a vicious infection during her C-section that left her in a coma. She's still in the hospital. Julio, the father, is the most sleep-deprived person I know, and yet has the best attitude. He never has a mean thing to say, always smiling, always a patient and kind father. The family's situation has improved a bit since this article was pubished on December 2nd - http://www.gazette.net/200448/greenbelt/news/247401-1.html - with volunteers coming over for a few hours at a time. He went back to work, and his niece stays with the kids during the day. But they still need a lot of help.

I go over on the graveyeard shift on Sundays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It's a lot of work, and people think I'm crazy, but it's worth it to me that this amazing father can get a full night's sleep 3 nights a week. I could talk about my schedule, how it affects my sleeping habits, my relationships. I could go on and on about how I go straight from one job to another to another between 10 am Sunday and 6 pm Monday. But what good would that do? It's not the reason I help. I don't do it so people can pat me on the back. Believe me, if you knew how rewarding it is just to be around these children, you'd know that no further recognition is needed.

I mean it, these babies are so beautiful. They were severely premature, so at 6 months they're still only the size of a one-month-old infant. Still, they have the cognizance of 6-month-olds and they teach me so many new things every time I see them. Honestly, it doesn't matter what kind of mood I'm in, what petty drama is going on in my life, just seeing even one of them smile is enough to erase any foul mood. They wiggle and babble and it's more beautiful than music.

They can clear my skies by just looking at me. If that's not love, I hope I'm alone forever. Anything less would be cheap and tragic.

Last night I was talking to Julio's niece who doesn't speak ANY English - well... she was speaking very fast in Spanish and I was trying to keep up and then stuttering back to her in a language that vaguely resembled Spanish. But she asked me one question that I had no problems understanding, or answering. She told me that I was the only person who came to help overnight (which I already knew) and asked me why. My tongue found it's way around the language enough to tell her, "Mucho persones habla con migo, 'Porque tu todo travaja? En oficina y en restaurante y con los ninos? Tu es muy loca! Yo no comprende porque tu usted se ofrece con los ninos todo tiempos.' Y yo los digo, 'Travajo mis dos travajos para dinero. Pero los nino son para mi corazon..."

Loosely (and probably incorrectly) translated, that means: "A lot of people ask me, 'Why are you always working? At the office and the restaurant AND with the babies? You're crazy! I don't understand why you volunteer with those babies all the time.' And I tell them, 'I work my jobs for money. But the babies are for my heart....'"

That's why it's going to kill me when I leave...