Don Humberto

I have so much to share from this past month that I don't know where to begin.  As the saying goes, I will begin at the beginning or rather where I left off.

It was difficult to take-in what had come to pass.  Don Humberto my beloved father-in-law would no longer be at home to greet me.  First things first, I had to get through customs.  It never fails that by the time I make my way through the line, collect my bags, and make it to the red-light green-light I am sweating like crazy.  The man operating the scanner recognized me from my previous trip in September.  He made me pay $50 for the items I carried in my luggage because he said I had gifts.  I was a big mess because I had so much lugggage and it was heavy and I was hot.  This time I immediatley told him what I was carrying and that I was in the process of moving to Mexico.  He must have felt sorry for me becuase he said "ok, pasale señora."  I was so happy.

Beto or "B", my husband, was waiting for me outside the gate along with his sister and nephew.  We dropped his sister and son off at home (a 10 min. drive from the airport) and made our way home to Nayarit, a 2 hour drive North.  It was then he began to tell me exactly how Don Humberto passed.

He suffered six heart attacks before the day he died.  He had an enlarged heart, high colesterol levels, high blood pressure and did not like to stick to his diet.  He lived as he wished to live.  My mother-in-law said the day he passed he sat outside and conversed with everyone, sat in our newly constructed house and watched the albañiles hard at work.  He then walked and looked in every nook and cranny of his home and finally said I'm tired and sat down to rest.  He never made it to the hospital.

"It is hard to accept these things happen because you always think they will happen to other people but not to you." said B.  In the weeks that followed we made trips to Tepic daily trying to take care of Don Humberto's estate. The family was exhausted.

I had looked forward to spending time with Don Humberto and living alongside him.  I know this will not come to pass and instead smile from time to time as he comes to mind and memory.