Another Cool Thing...

I almost forgot about the coolest thing we did in Puerto Rico!
About 55 years ago my dad was a student at St John's University in Minnesota. He was the second son in an Irish family, I think he was supposed to be a priest, but 5 kids later...  So anyway, there were students at St John's from Puerto Rico.  What they thought about the upper Midwest winters, I can't imagine. (actually,yes, I can imagine. I imagine they thought they'd been sent to hell to freeze their asses off) My dad and Sig Cruz became friends. Sig went home with dad for holidays and visited from Minneapolis in the summers.  Sig and my grandpa Ray golfed together. In 1956 Dad visited Sig in Humacao, PR, checked out the girls on the beaches.  Sig stayed in MN for 8 years and then moved back to Humacao.  Dad and Sig have stayed in touch all these years.
I sent Sig an email in February, telling him who we were and that we were planning to be in PR for a month or so and would love to finally meet him.  He wrote back right away and plans were made.  Actually, tentative plans were made.  What really happened was that we arrived in La Pargara after an ungodly early morning sail, cranky and in need of more coffee when he called and said, "We're here. I brought my family to meet you!"  So we went to shore, substituted beer for coffee and had a great visit. 
When we got around to the east end of the island, we were invited to their beautiful home for dinner.  Sig's wife, Marie, doesn't speak much English and Steve doesn't speak Spanish, so there was a lot of laughing and teasing.  At one point Marie hugged Steve and said, in Spanish, "If you stayed one week, I'd be speaking English and you'd speak Spanish!"

My parents wedding, Sig was best man.

Marie and Sig Cruz, Steve, at their home.

Sig was reminiscing about being in Minnesota and told a great story about his mother.  She never went to school and so couldn't read or write.  Sig's sisters didn't want to write letters for her to her son so far away and so at the age of 50 she went to school and learned to read and write.  He said he still has the letters she wrote to him.