Quiero presentarte a mi madre

Earlier today, during a special mass for quinceañeros (the traditional party for kids turning 15), that's what one of my kids, Yunior, said to me. His mother had come for the event because Yunior's brother was one of the quinceañeros*.

But what made me feel really, really good wasn't that he wanted to introduce me to her, but the proud smile on his face when he brought me to meet her (for her part, she just seemed confused about this extranjero that her son was introducing to her). It makes me feel really good to have something to do with him looking so proud and excited to show off to his mother.

A foto of Yunior and I fighting before graduation the other day. He's both in my hogar (where I east dinner and spend 6-8 on weekday nights), and I also have him in one of my classes at school.

Their family is also just generally really cute- Yunior's younger brother Yeison (yeah, they spell a lot of names with Y's here) is in the reading club I help run once a week with one of the other volunteers. One day he and I were drawing with crayons, and afterwards he said I should keep the drawing. "¡Pero hay que poner to nombre!", I told him ('You have to put your name'). Then, as everyone was leaving, he handed me the drawing. He had written "Yeison y Max son amigos". (Yeison and Max are friends).


*A number of the kids here on the ranch still have a living parent, but that they're here means that that parent could no longer take care of them sufficiently.