Today was a somewhat strange day, or maybe I should categorize it as unusual and extraordinary. In other people's views this may seem like nothing uncommon.
This man came into the Vision Center and asked me to straighten up a pair of spectacles that needed adjustment and alignment, well I succesfully fixed one of them but the second one had a very brittle temple sleeve that broke at the end when I tried to align. I apologized to the man and he started talking about hunting properties west of El Paso, Texas where you can still buy an acre of land, waterfront facing the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) for about $200 per acre, which according to him is a bargain, somewhat he changed the subject to being mugged in a little town between Cotulla and Hebronville, Texas, circa 1977. He then asked me if I knew Fox Tech High School, to what I responded that was my alma mater. I told him that I didn't graduated but that I belonged to Class 1981 and he said that he was there at that time, he was the school principal. I have never attended a School reunion because I would not recognize a single person there. The fact is I don't remember anybody attending school the time that I attended other than my now wife and a buddy of mine back then, Roberto Tovar who later dated and later engaged to Irene (I forgot her last name) who was my girlfriend's co-worker at Solo-Serve a Department Store in downtown San Antonio back in the 80's.
Back to the story. I told him that I have not talked to anybody from that era. Another customer walked in and we had to stop talking and he departed thanking me.
Less that 30 minutes later, another man came in and asked me for an estimate on his eyeglasses prescription and he said that he was only shopping around. I gave him a price quote and explained to him the difference on materials, their properties and what was best for fitting his prescription and budget. Very nicely he thanked me and left only to return in about five minutes. I helped him select a nice frame for his bifocal Rx, Once we started talking, we found out that he went to the same Primary school that I attended, the Ignacio M. Altamirano and later El Instituto dr. Andres Osuna, mejor conocido como El IDAO, he said that he recalled that only people with money sent children to this school. At some point I mentioned that I founded bizarre or at the very least, extraordinary, the fact that twice in a single day I had met two people with some nexus to my life in younger years. The second man said his name was Manuel (I forgot another last name) and the former principal's Philip or Felipe Torralba.
Now the clincher.
Less that 24 hours before, I was looking a picture of myself with my schoolmates from my 5th Grade school year 1971-1972 that I had posted in Flickr about five or six years ago. I was 10 years old! Last night I was just looking at the photo and tried to remember the names of everybody pictured. I was able to recall some twelve out of forty-one to the best of my knowledge.
Mr. Manuel also talked about Jesus Christ and how The Almighty changed his life forever, he is Catholic and hold priests in a high regard. He have seen God personified in a homeless, and disarrayed looking black man with very white hair. Years ago, while attending Mass in a Catholic Church, he had $20 to his name, he put $10 in the Diezmo basket at the end of the ceremony and with the remaining $10 he planned to get some breakfast tacos that some people was selling outside the church along with cup cakes and other stuff to raise funds for some cause or event related to the church itself. At the end of Mass he stopped to talk to a friend in the back of the church when he noticed this black man dressed or covered with a tunic or something like the cloth that Gandi use to cover himself, he used a long and thick stick to walk, he had very white and short white hair at some distance towards the front of the church's altar, the man looked him in the eye and point a finger at him and then motioned his hand towards his mouth like in a feeding gesture. Manuel said goodbye to his friend and said "let me see what this man wants" and walked towards him, as soon as he was in front of him, the black man said "I am hungry" and Manuel looked at him for a moment and invited him to come to the church grounds and get something to eat. There, the man said "I was just sent here, He sent me" to what Manuel said "what? who sent you? and the man point upwards, to the sky. In a split second, he says, in one single second something distracted me and as turn back to the man, he was gone, Manuel looked around the corner of the church and nobody was there, and Manuel thought that he couldn't have run away that fast. He is convinced that he had talked to God.
At the end my sale didn't materialized when I told him that it would take 5 to 7 days to get the glasses back and ready, he needed them sooner.
Nevertheless we accord to meet another day for a cup o' joe and talk some more of our time in Piedras Negras.
This man came into the Vision Center and asked me to straighten up a pair of spectacles that needed adjustment and alignment, well I succesfully fixed one of them but the second one had a very brittle temple sleeve that broke at the end when I tried to align. I apologized to the man and he started talking about hunting properties west of El Paso, Texas where you can still buy an acre of land, waterfront facing the Rio Grande (Rio Bravo) for about $200 per acre, which according to him is a bargain, somewhat he changed the subject to being mugged in a little town between Cotulla and Hebronville, Texas, circa 1977. He then asked me if I knew Fox Tech High School, to what I responded that was my alma mater. I told him that I didn't graduated but that I belonged to Class 1981 and he said that he was there at that time, he was the school principal. I have never attended a School reunion because I would not recognize a single person there. The fact is I don't remember anybody attending school the time that I attended other than my now wife and a buddy of mine back then, Roberto Tovar who later dated and later engaged to Irene (I forgot her last name) who was my girlfriend's co-worker at Solo-Serve a Department Store in downtown San Antonio back in the 80's.
Back to the story. I told him that I have not talked to anybody from that era. Another customer walked in and we had to stop talking and he departed thanking me.
Less that 30 minutes later, another man came in and asked me for an estimate on his eyeglasses prescription and he said that he was only shopping around. I gave him a price quote and explained to him the difference on materials, their properties and what was best for fitting his prescription and budget. Very nicely he thanked me and left only to return in about five minutes. I helped him select a nice frame for his bifocal Rx, Once we started talking, we found out that he went to the same Primary school that I attended, the Ignacio M. Altamirano and later El Instituto dr. Andres Osuna, mejor conocido como El IDAO, he said that he recalled that only people with money sent children to this school. At some point I mentioned that I founded bizarre or at the very least, extraordinary, the fact that twice in a single day I had met two people with some nexus to my life in younger years. The second man said his name was Manuel (I forgot another last name) and the former principal's Philip or Felipe Torralba.
Now the clincher.
Less that 24 hours before, I was looking a picture of myself with my schoolmates from my 5th Grade school year 1971-1972 that I had posted in Flickr about five or six years ago. I was 10 years old! Last night I was just looking at the photo and tried to remember the names of everybody pictured. I was able to recall some twelve out of forty-one to the best of my knowledge.
Mr. Manuel also talked about Jesus Christ and how The Almighty changed his life forever, he is Catholic and hold priests in a high regard. He have seen God personified in a homeless, and disarrayed looking black man with very white hair. Years ago, while attending Mass in a Catholic Church, he had $20 to his name, he put $10 in the Diezmo basket at the end of the ceremony and with the remaining $10 he planned to get some breakfast tacos that some people was selling outside the church along with cup cakes and other stuff to raise funds for some cause or event related to the church itself. At the end of Mass he stopped to talk to a friend in the back of the church when he noticed this black man dressed or covered with a tunic or something like the cloth that Gandi use to cover himself, he used a long and thick stick to walk, he had very white and short white hair at some distance towards the front of the church's altar, the man looked him in the eye and point a finger at him and then motioned his hand towards his mouth like in a feeding gesture. Manuel said goodbye to his friend and said "let me see what this man wants" and walked towards him, as soon as he was in front of him, the black man said "I am hungry" and Manuel looked at him for a moment and invited him to come to the church grounds and get something to eat. There, the man said "I was just sent here, He sent me" to what Manuel said "what? who sent you? and the man point upwards, to the sky. In a split second, he says, in one single second something distracted me and as turn back to the man, he was gone, Manuel looked around the corner of the church and nobody was there, and Manuel thought that he couldn't have run away that fast. He is convinced that he had talked to God.
At the end my sale didn't materialized when I told him that it would take 5 to 7 days to get the glasses back and ready, he needed them sooner.
Nevertheless we accord to meet another day for a cup o' joe and talk some more of our time in Piedras Negras.
