Finally Free

53

C A R T E R | tensions rise

My mother is a fearless woman, she almost never shows emotion, even though she stands at a whopping 5 feet 2 inches, she is always kept in perfect posture and her head is always held high. I've never seen her nervous, never in my whole life, except... around Abeulita. Her mother in law, the single handedly scariest woman to ever grace the planet, Satan is scared of her.

Cayetana Navarro Marquez. She was born in a small village in Honduras in 1947. She moved to Barcelona for college where she met mi abuelito, Nicolás Marquez, they settled in San Juan where they had my father and his two sisters Carla and Viviana. Mis abuelos are still going strong after nearly 50 years together.

My grandmother on mi mama's side, Florencia Morales lives with her two best friends in Santa Clara, very much like the Golden Girls. We see her usually once a month. Mi abuelo, Santiago Morales, passed away when I was 10. It crushed my mother.

We don't really see our father's parents that often, they try to fly in from Vermont at least once a year. We still maintain a close bond even across the country. Abuelita used to get into it with my mom, they would argue over the most trivial things with my dad acting as Switzerland. Ma used to call her Monster In-Law, but ever since we lost papi, they've settled their differences and managed to form a relationship.

Still that doesn't stop her from sweating on the drive to the airport, muttering incoherent obscenities to herself. They're flying for my graduation, which means that they're basically going to be here the whole month. "Is Sophia's family coming tonight?" Ma asks from the front seat, I notice how tightly she's gripping the steering wheel, preparing herself for abuelita. She invited as many people as she could in hopes of taking some of Abuelita's weight off her.

"Just Sophia and Paige. Liam has finals and their mom has a last minute case or something? I'm not entirely sure. The girls came back from Tahoe last night so I've been dying to see Sophia."

"We get it, you're horny." Nat says, her eyes still glued to the screen. "Ay, Natalia Rosario Marquez." Ma doesn't even have to finish her lecture before Natalia takes the hint and shuts up... kind of. "First amendment rights just saying."

We arrive at SFO, pulling the car outside their gate. Ma knows that Abuelita would freak out if we didn't meet her at baggage claim. I see my grandparents arguing passionately near the bag carousel.

To my surprise I see my Tía Viviana, my dad's younger sister, her creep husband, Greg, that I don't think I've ever had an actual conversation with; and to my annoyance their only son and my cousin, Bennett. He's 20 years old, he goes to University of Florida, on a half assed basketball scholarship. He's even more of a dick than someone like Brent Bronson.

"¡Abuelita, Abuelito!" Nat yells from across the room, sprinting towards them, when they see her, Abuelito picks her up, spinning her around. "You're getting so big! And beautiful." He kisses her cheeks a million times. Abuelita wraps her arms around me, pinching my cheeks, "Look at you, you're so handsome now."

"Gracias, hola abuelita." I give them my best brown nosing smile, I know how to kiss ass when necessary. "I can't believe you're going to college!"

The hug between ma and my grandparents is emotional, she holds them tightly. "Loretta, lovely to see you." Abuelita whispers.

Viviana hugs me tightly, greeting my mom with a few kisses on the cheek. I completely ignore Bennett and Greg's presence. I hate Bennett with a burning passion but he's so stupid that he doesn't even notice my dislike for him. "Hey man." He sticks his hand out for a high five or something and I just accept it in a fake manner.