The Dona of Noel's dad's side
When I am old I will wear purple...
That is how my relationship with Noel started out. Everywhere we went; dancing, eating, visiting, he would introduce me to his primos (cousins). I thought he was taking the translation non-literally, in that "we are all Honduran" sense of cousins. But noooo. They are ALL related, albeit with some second cousins. In the beginning I thought he was related to every Honduran in Seattle. Not quite, but most of them are from Tegucigalpa (capitol of Honduras) or Urrutias (his little home village).
I tried to map out a family tree on my first trip to meet the family, but an 8x10 paper was incredibly inadequate. Now when I meet any primo I ask "Which side are you a cousin from?" and "Who's son are you," as I primarily know the women's names.
Ironically, in such a large family Noel has just one blood brother. And one first cousin who he calls brother as they shared a house and bed for 10 years. Their sense of family is amazing, and humbling, as Noel calls his brothers every night, just to make sure they are okay. To quote him "Who needs friends when you have family? Family will always stick up for you and you trust them. You never know what friends will do." Followed occassionally by choice words about how my friends are not good enough becauase they are not family. Oh hubby I am sooo sorry I don't have gazillions of primos to pick my friends from. I have one sister, she is great, but in this culture I am sure she doesn't want to know about allll parts of my life.
Oh, wait! Noel does have 1 friend. He has known him for his entire life, grew up in the little village, did all of school together and he lives in Seattle as well. One friend in 28 years! But 50+ primos to make up the difference.
