A visit from the Chimals

Earlier this month our family had the unique privilege of hosting friends from Mexico, Reverend Andres Chimal and his wife Maria de la Luz Gonzalez (aka Paty Chimal) at our house during their first visit to the United States. The Chimals were our hosts for 6 months during the summer and fall of 1993, back when we were young, childless, and much more mobile. They were phenomenal hosts, turning their dining room into a bedroom for us for half a year, and patiently teaching us many many things, including how to really speak Spanish, and what Mexican food really tastes like. We have since made two trips to visit them with our children, in spring 2005, and winter 2007.

Fittingly enough, they arrived on Cinco de Mayo, and we promptly introduced them to Dutch Tulip Time festivities in Holland, Michigan nearby. The privilege for us was in seeing our lives, their joys, frustrations, opportunities and temptations, through new eyes. From the overwhelming abundance of opportunities to obtain more stuff, to the rapidly changing spring weather patterns, to the relatively very quiet urban neighborhood in which we live, the absence of any walls around any homes, and our inability to introduce any uniquely American food (with the exception of mom's good old fashioned beef-roast, mashed potatoes and green beans on Sunday...), we found ourselves ranging in emotion from gratitude to shame and back to surprise.