Juan, I owe you one

Well, a good slice of normalcy has just reentered my life down here in Hernando County. No, my fam or friends didn't move down here. No, I didn't come across an upscale soul-food restuarant. No, I didn't see anyone between 20 and 35-years old that was attractive or upwardly mobile.

Screw all that.

I finally saw a Hispanic cleaner. Granted, it wasn't a Hispanic cleaning-lady, it was Juan. Juan looks to be in about his early 30's and he's 5'3 tops. Lovely mustache, too. And he spoke that "how is he surviving in an English speaking country" spanglish. But homeboy was mad cool, even though I couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand me. We just took turns laughing and smiling at what each other said.

He could've very well been saying things like,

"Wow, they let spooks like you report news? Some country."

To which I'd have smiled and chuckled. That's how these conversations go. But, I enjoyed it, because it's not America unless a Hispanic emptying the office recycling bins. Like Phil Collins said, "That's just the way it is."

Down here though..geriatric caucasians do everything. They take your money at the toll booths, bag your groceries, work at the Gap. It's all unsettling. But nothing reverses the spin of my world more than seeing Granpa Joe mopping the tiles of the bathroom floor -- slowly of course.

I was here at the office late one night when I heard something that sound like garbage bag rustling. So I peeked over my my cabinets and saw Grandma Geezer bent over emptying the trash. I frowned and almost fainted. Was I alive? Is this my Bizarro World? What gives?

That night on my way home I saw two 70+ men in a security car, patroling the WalMart parking lot. What were they gonna do? Not fight crime? And definitely not prevent it. "No, no, no son...don't do that. Put that purse back in that woman's car please." Gimme ten breaks.

So you can imagine the inner calm I felt this morning when I waltzed into work peculiarly early (around 9am) and Juan wiping down tables in our little courtyard. I wanted hug him, actually.

But that's me right now. Regaining my wits one Hispanic at a time.