Memoirs -The way I see it...Lesson 24

 Memoirs are memories by an author that are based on their own world view.  These ideas can be seeds for the story that will be told. 

Alberto Rios- Is an American author born in Nogales, Arizona a border town right on the edge of the Mexican border.  His father, Alberto Rios, Sr., was born in Mexico near the Guatemala border and his mother Agnes Fogg Rios, was born in England.  His parents met while Alberto Sr. was in the army during World War II. 

Capirotada- Is a memoir by Alberto that describes his upbringing in Nogales, Arizona in the l950's-1960's. Capirotada is a Mexican dessert -like a bread pudding that is made of a melange of ingredients which vary based on the family.  It is usually served during lent. 

The Lemon Story

When I was about four, or maybe five, my parents bought a new house in what would become a small suburb of Nogales, Arizona on the border of Mexico, some four miles outside of town.  My father was born in Mexico, on the border of Guatemala, and my mother was born in England.  From the very start I had many languages. 

As we kept driving out to watch the house being built, my mother got to make a number of choices regarding details among which was the color of various rooms. 

My mother when asked what color she wanted the kitchen said to the workers who were all Mexican, and who spoke very little English, limon. She said it both because she wanted the kitchen to be yellow and because she wanted to start learning Spanish.  The workers nodded yes. But when we came back the next day, the kitchen was painted bright green, like a small jungle.  Mexican limones, my mother found out, are small and green, the color exactly, no mistake.

"Senora-Senora," said the workers when they saw my mother's face, "we will fix it. Don't worry."

"No", said my mother, "no. Leave it."

So that's the color the wall stayed for the next fourteen years, until I left home for college.  She said it was a remainder to us all that there was a great deal to learn in the world.  You might laugh at first, but after fourteen years you start to think about it.