~ Insane ~

by Tina~not_in_ut

I've always thought of myself as Mexican. I grew up spending most of my time with that side of my family. I knew I was light skinned, but that didn't matter. I don't know how old I was when I realized I'm only half Mexican. Most of my cousins are full-blooded, but my mom married a gringo. Although I love my dad, I always felt cheated! My cousins would say, "You're only half!" I was jealous. When I married a gringo (boy was my mom bummed!), I realized that my kids would only be 1/4 Mexican. It still didn't matter to me. I would make sure I raised them to know and appreciate their heritage.

My brothers, sister, sister-in-law, nephew and I took our parents to dinner on Saturday night to celebrate their 45th wedding anniversary. My hubby and kids couldn't come, but everyone asked how they were all doing. I started to describe my 17 yr old's search for the right college. I told them the story about one of the meetings hubby and son had with the college counselor. Hubby asked the counselor if my son could/should put on his college applications that he is Hispanic. He explained that he is 1/4 Mexican and the counselor stated, "He has every right to declare that on his application, but that it is up to us whether he does or not." One of my son's friends just groaned, "You'll get in anywhere now!" My son just smiled.

My brother listened with interest. I told him that I assumed that he and my SIL mark down on everything they fill out for their son that he is Hispanic. Before my brother could say a word, my SIL interrupted and said, "No we don't. We write that he's a human being!!!" WTF!!! What in the hell is that supposed to mean? She went on to say that her son will earn his way into college and anything else.......as if my son isn't! I was furious. My nephew is 3/4 Mexican and looks it and apparently my SIL tells him instead that he's American. Where is her pride in her heritage? It's a slap in my mother's face, too!

I tried to ignore and keep the peace, so I moved on and told my brother that my son has applied to 9 universities and listed them all. When I got to Notre Dame, all of a sudden we heard this shreak from my SIL, "Notre Shame? Notre Shame? Why would he want to go there? Notre Shame?" I racked my brain quickly to try to figure out what she was talking about. I tried to ignore her, but she kept it up. Then it dawned on me. They let the President speak at the school and there was a big to do about it. Oh my hell! Notre Dame is my son's "reach" school. We probably can't afford to send him there, but he'd be going there to get an engineering degree.....it's not a political thing!

The entire time this was going on, I had my hand on my sister's knee squeazing it to keep me from smacking my SIL! Luckily, my hard of hearing parents did not hear any of this because they were having a conversation of their own. My SIL drives me INSANE! She has a warped way of thinking. This is the same woman who helped her son with an assignment at school last year and he failed miserably. He was supposed to do a poster of his heritage and dress up as well. She sent him to school in a baseball uniform and put the American flag and a picture of apple pie on the poster.

I don't get it. I thought most people were proud of their heritage. In any case, thank you for indulging me. I told my sister on our way home from dinner, "I see a blog in this!" (I didn't tell her how theraputic it is!)