WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.379 It is possible to be thankful every moment, every 00:00:04.379 --> 00:00:08.439 day. It is possible to be thankful every moment, 00:00:08.679 --> 00:00:15.220 every day. It takes practice and humility. Hi 00:00:15.220 --> 00:00:18.359 and welcome to Tell Me What Happened, the podcast 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:21.519 that features people from all walks of life talking 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:24.339 about real events from their childhood and how 00:00:24.339 --> 00:00:27.699 those events impacted their lives. I'm your host, 00:00:27.980 --> 00:00:30.750 Jay Rehack. And I love listening to stories from 00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:33.409 people's childhoods, which also helped me understand 00:00:33.409 --> 00:00:36.549 who those people are. Tell Me What Happened is 00:00:36.549 --> 00:00:39.689 sponsored by Sidelining Publishing, publishers 00:00:39.689 --> 00:00:43.469 of quality books, including Susan Salador's children's 00:00:43.469 --> 00:00:46.729 book, I've Got Peace in My Fingers. Available 00:00:46.729 --> 00:00:50.070 worldwide wherever quality books are sold. Tell 00:00:50.070 --> 00:00:53.490 Me What Happened is also sponsored by laughsaver 00:00:53.490 --> 00:00:58.149 .com. Visit laughsaver .com and record your laughter. 00:00:58.869 --> 00:01:01.770 LaughSaver .com will keep it for you, now and 00:01:01.770 --> 00:01:04.689 forever. Your family will appreciate it. It's 00:01:04.689 --> 00:01:08.129 free and it's easy to use. That's LaughSaver 00:01:08.129 --> 00:01:13.250 .com. Today I have as my guest, Eva Lopez, a 00:01:13.250 --> 00:01:17.090 former student of mine from about 12 years ago. 00:01:17.569 --> 00:01:19.750 Eva is a communication strategist living in Brooklyn 00:01:19.750 --> 00:01:23.849 right now. Welcome to the show, Eva. Thank you 00:01:23.849 --> 00:01:27.120 so much for having me. Well, I look forward to 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:29.879 hearing your story. I'm hoping if it's a sad 00:01:29.879 --> 00:01:32.280 story, it does not involve any part of honors 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:34.959 to American literature with which I taught you. 00:01:35.439 --> 00:01:37.980 But if it does, it does. I'm going to take my 00:01:37.980 --> 00:01:40.719 chances. What I'm going to do, Ebez, I'm going 00:01:40.719 --> 00:01:42.579 to get out of your way. I'm going to ask you 00:01:42.579 --> 00:01:46.439 to tell your story. And I try my best not to 00:01:46.439 --> 00:01:48.859 interrupt you. If you hear me in the background, 00:01:49.459 --> 00:01:51.200 I hope not to distract you is what I'm trying 00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:53.859 to say. So the basic idea of the storytelling 00:01:53.859 --> 00:01:57.340 is that I stay out of the way you tell your story. 00:01:57.480 --> 00:01:59.900 And then afterwards, I'm going to ask you how 00:01:59.900 --> 00:02:02.879 you feel that that story has impacted you as 00:02:02.879 --> 00:02:06.659 an adult. Are you ready to tell your story? I 00:02:06.659 --> 00:02:10.740 am ready to share my story. So our story takes 00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:14.180 place in Santa Maya, Mexico, actually. So this 00:02:14.180 --> 00:02:16.919 is the town where my grandparents on my dad's 00:02:16.919 --> 00:02:19.020 side were born and raised is where they grew 00:02:19.020 --> 00:02:22.719 up. And back when I was about eight or nine years 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:26.840 old, I spent two weeks with them back in Santana 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:31.199 and it was those two weeks were just some of 00:02:31.199 --> 00:02:33.979 the best weeks of my childhood honestly because 00:02:33.979 --> 00:02:37.120 I got to see a whole different world I got to 00:02:37.120 --> 00:02:39.639 explore the town that my grandparents were from 00:02:39.639 --> 00:02:43.800 I got to meet and make relationships with a lot 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.639 of my family members that I you know had never 00:02:46.639 --> 00:02:50.020 met before or had only met in passing and previous 00:02:50.020 --> 00:02:53.020 trips down to Mexico when I was younger. But 00:02:53.020 --> 00:02:54.800 this trip was the first time that I was old enough 00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:58.620 to actually form memories and, I guess, to build 00:02:58.620 --> 00:03:01.099 relationships with certain, certain cousins and 00:03:01.099 --> 00:03:04.120 other family members. But the specific story 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:08.539 that I want to tell is one in which one day I 00:03:08.539 --> 00:03:11.740 went to my, my tiaoli's house and she lived right 00:03:11.740 --> 00:03:15.159 next door to my grandparents where they, their 00:03:15.159 --> 00:03:17.460 house there in, in Santa Ana. So I went over 00:03:17.460 --> 00:03:19.860 there and we had a whole list of errands to do 00:03:19.860 --> 00:03:22.599 that day. And the first errand was we had to 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:25.240 go to the market to pick up some groceries and 00:03:25.240 --> 00:03:27.539 just some other things that we needed for the 00:03:27.539 --> 00:03:30.919 house and for dinner that night. So she takes 00:03:30.919 --> 00:03:34.639 me to the town market. And to paint the picture, 00:03:34.979 --> 00:03:38.439 Santana is a very rural town, very rural community, 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:41.719 a lot of dirt roads. You know, the market you 00:03:41.719 --> 00:03:44.780 see. live animals in cages that you can you can 00:03:44.780 --> 00:03:48.180 just go and buy hens and live chickens and you 00:03:48.180 --> 00:03:50.460 know you also have people that are selling vegetables 00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:53.199 and and fruits that they grew right there in 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:56.580 their in their backyard so so this was the to 00:03:56.580 --> 00:03:58.180 paint a picture of what this market looked like 00:03:58.180 --> 00:04:00.460 it was something that i had never seen before 00:04:00.460 --> 00:04:03.300 having grown up in the u .s so it was a bit of 00:04:03.300 --> 00:04:06.099 a culture shock for me but i i loved it and so 00:04:06.099 --> 00:04:11.090 my tia my aunt she guided me to to this woman 00:04:11.090 --> 00:04:13.550 who was selling live chickens. And she goes to 00:04:13.550 --> 00:04:15.650 me, she goes, can you help me pick out a chicken? 00:04:16.170 --> 00:04:19.050 And I said, sure. So I'm looking at chickens 00:04:19.050 --> 00:04:22.170 and here I am thinking, oh, well, this is gonna 00:04:22.170 --> 00:04:24.670 be another chicken to add to the coop that my 00:04:24.670 --> 00:04:27.350 aunt has in her backyard. Because my aunt, she, 00:04:27.350 --> 00:04:29.290 they had a number of chickens that they would 00:04:29.290 --> 00:04:32.209 raise and lay eggs and collect them and sell 00:04:32.209 --> 00:04:34.350 those eggs and use them for dinner and everything. 00:04:34.490 --> 00:04:37.689 So in my head, I'm trying to find a really nice 00:04:37.689 --> 00:04:39.970 looking chicken to add to that community that 00:04:39.970 --> 00:04:43.050 they have back in the backyard, right? So I find 00:04:43.050 --> 00:04:46.870 a really nice plump white chicken and we purchase 00:04:46.870 --> 00:04:50.290 it from the woman who's selling them there at 00:04:50.290 --> 00:04:52.769 the market. And then we head back to my aunt's 00:04:52.769 --> 00:04:55.149 house. So once we get back to my aunt's house, 00:04:55.250 --> 00:04:57.550 we go straight into their backyard where they 00:04:57.550 --> 00:05:00.550 have a chicken coop and where my other aunt is 00:05:00.550 --> 00:05:02.589 starting to kind of get things together to start 00:05:02.589 --> 00:05:06.449 making dinner. And my Aunt turns to me and she 00:05:06.449 --> 00:05:10.290 goes, okay, so now I need you to hold down this 00:05:10.290 --> 00:05:13.350 chicken's legs for me. And I'm very confused 00:05:13.350 --> 00:05:18.689 because in that moment I realized, oh, I was 00:05:18.689 --> 00:05:20.550 helping to select the chicken that we were gonna 00:05:20.550 --> 00:05:24.009 eat for dinner tonight. That's what I was doing 00:05:24.009 --> 00:05:28.310 back at the market. And so I was a little mortified 00:05:28.310 --> 00:05:31.129 in that moment, but I knew I had to help out, 00:05:31.129 --> 00:05:35.329 and I wasn't about to let my aunt down. So she 00:05:35.329 --> 00:05:38.949 grabbed the chicken and put its body down on 00:05:38.949 --> 00:05:41.889 this tree stump that was in the backyard. And 00:05:41.889 --> 00:05:45.310 she had me hold its legs while she took an axe 00:05:45.310 --> 00:05:48.350 and chopped its head off. And eight, nine -year 00:05:48.350 --> 00:05:50.769 -old me... is sitting there holding the legs 00:05:50.769 --> 00:05:52.550 and and it's still moving after the head was 00:05:52.550 --> 00:05:55.290 cut off because it you know that that's how the 00:05:55.290 --> 00:05:58.230 body reacts even after it's lost its its head 00:05:58.230 --> 00:06:00.509 for a couple of minutes and that image has stayed 00:06:00.509 --> 00:06:05.750 with me for the rest of my life because that 00:06:05.750 --> 00:06:10.550 was just a oh that is a the life of an animal 00:06:10.550 --> 00:06:14.350 that was that we just took but is for our food 00:06:14.350 --> 00:06:17.730 later And again, having grown up in Chicago, 00:06:17.829 --> 00:06:21.329 in the United States, where we buy our meat prepackaged, 00:06:21.529 --> 00:06:25.649 we don't see that whole process. To see that 00:06:25.649 --> 00:06:28.089 as such a young kid, it just made me realize, 00:06:28.209 --> 00:06:31.730 wow, you have to have an appreciation for life, 00:06:31.750 --> 00:06:34.529 for animals' life, and recognize the work that 00:06:34.529 --> 00:06:39.269 goes into making a meal. So after we killed the 00:06:39.269 --> 00:06:42.250 chicken, my aunt then took the body. There was 00:06:42.250 --> 00:06:45.220 a... big pot of boiling water that my other aunt 00:06:45.220 --> 00:06:47.819 was prepping. And so they put the chicken into 00:06:47.819 --> 00:06:50.060 the pot. And then they started plucking the feathers 00:06:50.060 --> 00:06:52.819 one by one to start cleansing the chicken and 00:06:52.819 --> 00:06:55.959 preparing the meat. And I remember watching this 00:06:55.959 --> 00:06:59.319 process and helping my aunt with that as well. 00:06:59.819 --> 00:07:03.680 And, you know, there was a couple more hours 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:06.560 of food prep, of chicken prep that went into 00:07:06.560 --> 00:07:09.439 this. And fast forward to dinner. For dinner, 00:07:09.600 --> 00:07:11.839 we had galgo de pollo that night, chicken soup. 00:07:12.009 --> 00:07:14.490 and I remember sitting at that table and staring 00:07:14.490 --> 00:07:16.910 at the bowl of soup and my cousin who was sitting 00:07:16.910 --> 00:07:19.490 next to me made a comment and she goes she goes 00:07:19.490 --> 00:07:22.009 yeah we can't just go to KFC here and I turn 00:07:22.009 --> 00:07:24.990 to her and I go yep but this is so much better 00:07:24.990 --> 00:07:28.470 so much better because the soup was phenomenal 00:07:28.470 --> 00:07:31.290 I still remember how it tasted and I think what 00:07:31.290 --> 00:07:33.790 made it taste even better as well was again just 00:07:33.790 --> 00:07:35.870 knowing all the the love and labor that went 00:07:35.870 --> 00:07:40.769 into it and my my aunts and just in general the 00:07:40.970 --> 00:07:44.769 My family and the community in Mexico, when you 00:07:44.769 --> 00:07:48.569 do see prepper food from the market, from farm 00:07:48.569 --> 00:07:52.310 to table like that, there is really an appreciation 00:07:52.310 --> 00:07:56.490 for everything that went into it. And so that 00:07:56.490 --> 00:08:00.569 meal and that whole process of witnessing and 00:08:00.569 --> 00:08:02.589 helping to kill the chicken that later became 00:08:02.589 --> 00:08:05.870 our dinner that night just made me realize a 00:08:05.870 --> 00:08:08.009 number of things. It made me realize that the 00:08:08.009 --> 00:08:11.019 privileges that I had, growing up in the U .S. 00:08:11.259 --> 00:08:13.839 compared to what my cousins and what my family 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:17.819 had to do just to make them a meal back in Mexico. 00:08:18.439 --> 00:08:21.879 It made me realize all the things that my grandparents, 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.699 my abuelitos, what they gave up to come to the 00:08:24.699 --> 00:08:29.300 U .S. and how everything that they did was to 00:08:29.300 --> 00:08:32.320 give us that better life and to ensure that we 00:08:32.320 --> 00:08:34.100 had a life that was just a little bit easier 00:08:34.100 --> 00:08:36.940 than what they had growing up in Santana in such 00:08:36.940 --> 00:08:40.120 a small rural town. But most of all, I think 00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.460 it made me realize I should not take anything 00:08:43.460 --> 00:08:46.620 for granted, anything that I have back home and 00:08:46.620 --> 00:08:50.700 that the true beauty in being able to appreciate 00:08:50.700 --> 00:08:53.120 the food on your table or just something that 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:55.539 you really worked hard for, that it's important 00:08:55.539 --> 00:08:58.320 to take a moment to appreciate the effort and 00:08:58.320 --> 00:09:01.000 hard work that goes into that. And again, the 00:09:01.000 --> 00:09:04.590 love and the labor that can go into. something 00:09:04.590 --> 00:09:06.769 as simple as chicken soup, which if I was eating 00:09:06.769 --> 00:09:08.769 chicken soup in the US that was straight out 00:09:08.769 --> 00:09:11.370 of a Campbell's can or from a restaurant, I wouldn't 00:09:11.370 --> 00:09:14.149 think about it. But staring at that soup and 00:09:14.149 --> 00:09:16.169 knowing that, okay, that was the chicken that 00:09:16.169 --> 00:09:19.389 I helped select earlier today and that I held 00:09:19.389 --> 00:09:22.769 its legs down, but it served a purpose and it's 00:09:22.769 --> 00:09:25.350 feeding our whole family. There was just a lot, 00:09:26.129 --> 00:09:28.990 a lot in that meal that I, again, still carry 00:09:28.990 --> 00:09:33.269 with me, still carry with me today. Well said, 00:09:33.330 --> 00:09:36.029 beautiful story. I was thinking, of course, the 00:09:36.029 --> 00:09:38.490 whole time, I'm wondering down the road now, 00:09:38.490 --> 00:09:40.509 are you a vegetarian? You still eat chicken? 00:09:41.070 --> 00:09:44.429 Do you go to KFC? Do you, you know, I definitely, 00:09:44.710 --> 00:09:46.509 I've never experienced what you're talking about, 00:09:46.509 --> 00:09:48.850 but I do know, of course, that somebody has to 00:09:48.850 --> 00:09:50.850 kill the chicken, somebody has to repair it. 00:09:51.009 --> 00:09:53.230 So did it impact you in that way? Are you still, 00:09:53.230 --> 00:09:56.049 are you vegetarian? Are you, you still good with 00:09:56.049 --> 00:09:58.529 eating chicken? How do you, how do you, how else 00:09:58.529 --> 00:10:00.889 has that impacted you down the road here? That 00:10:00.889 --> 00:10:04.730 is a great question. I am honestly a big carnivore. 00:10:04.889 --> 00:10:07.789 I love meat. It would be very hard to give up 00:10:07.789 --> 00:10:10.769 meat. And that's the thing is, especially where 00:10:10.769 --> 00:10:14.090 my family is from, pork, for example, is huge. 00:10:14.330 --> 00:10:16.669 So carnitas and making anything that can come 00:10:16.669 --> 00:10:20.070 from it. Santa Ana specifically is a big pig 00:10:20.070 --> 00:10:22.690 farming town as well. And so, but the animals 00:10:22.690 --> 00:10:26.289 are treated there with respect. And there's this 00:10:26.289 --> 00:10:28.629 just common knowledge that yes, we're going to 00:10:28.629 --> 00:10:31.820 eat these animals, but in knowing that and knowing 00:10:31.820 --> 00:10:33.799 that they're providing the food for this family, 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:35.840 it's important to treat animals with respect 00:10:35.840 --> 00:10:38.179 and understand that when you're raising them, 00:10:38.279 --> 00:10:39.899 when you're killing them, to do it as humanely 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:42.539 as possible. So that was part of the other lesson 00:10:42.539 --> 00:10:45.139 that I learned. And so that experience did not 00:10:45.139 --> 00:10:47.100 deter me from eating meat, but it did just make 00:10:47.100 --> 00:10:50.159 me more appreciative of, wow, this is the process 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:53.899 that goes into it. And it's important to be making 00:10:54.350 --> 00:10:56.850 food selections that you know this meat is coming 00:10:56.850 --> 00:10:59.230 from a reputable farm or brand or someone that 00:10:59.230 --> 00:11:01.990 you know is practicing humane farming practices. 00:11:03.169 --> 00:11:05.429 Yeah that's great I agree with you a thousand 00:11:05.429 --> 00:11:08.070 percent because I definitely think these these 00:11:08.070 --> 00:11:10.389 animals they are a gift to us in terms of our 00:11:10.389 --> 00:11:13.909 ability to eat food etc but also they should 00:11:13.909 --> 00:11:16.169 be treated with respect when I think people who 00:11:16.169 --> 00:11:19.429 are farmers are generally generally people who 00:11:19.429 --> 00:11:21.929 are humane people who understand the process 00:11:21.929 --> 00:11:25.590 and uh certainly don't abuse animals for the 00:11:25.590 --> 00:11:28.470 purpose of abusing them. They literally understand 00:11:28.470 --> 00:11:32.110 that this is nutrition and this helps sustain 00:11:32.110 --> 00:11:34.750 the world. Well, thank you for that story. I 00:11:34.750 --> 00:11:36.629 feel kind of badly for the eight or nine -year 00:11:36.629 --> 00:11:41.009 -old, Eva, back then, picking out dead chicken, 00:11:41.730 --> 00:11:45.230 thinking, oh, it's a cute little chicken, or 00:11:45.230 --> 00:11:47.789 thought you're picking out the cutest one, or 00:11:47.789 --> 00:11:50.409 whatever, and turning out, oh, that's tonight's 00:11:50.409 --> 00:11:55.720 dinner. That's it. Well, thank you for coming 00:11:55.720 --> 00:12:00.159 on the show. I appreciate your time and it's 00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:02.779 good to actually reconnect many, many years later 00:12:02.779 --> 00:12:05.419 after you're in my class. I talked to you briefly 00:12:05.419 --> 00:12:07.919 before the show and I said, it's only been a 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:09.940 few years and you wound up telling me that you've 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:12.379 actually graduated from Whitney Young about eight 00:12:12.379 --> 00:12:16.659 years ago, is that right? Yes, in 2012. The time 00:12:16.659 --> 00:12:22.559 flies by. It does. It does. I will remember so 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:25.980 much from your class. The Jersey Shore song that 00:12:25.980 --> 00:12:28.860 my group and I had to write to Yankee Doodle. 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:30.960 Do you remember that assignment? I do remember 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:33.960 that. We do. We still do it. We take 19th century 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:37.799 songs and modernize them, I guess, basically. 00:12:38.100 --> 00:12:40.340 Oh, that's great. Well, I'm glad you remember 00:12:40.340 --> 00:12:44.620 that. Hopefully nothing by class is any sort 00:12:44.620 --> 00:12:47.159 of a painful memory. I think I'm happy to know 00:12:47.159 --> 00:12:49.179 that you're in communications. That's fantastic. 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:52.980 That's great. And most importantly, it sounds 00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:54.919 like you're happy living out in Brooklyn, and 00:12:54.919 --> 00:12:56.860 that makes me happy too. So thanks for being 00:12:56.860 --> 00:13:00.100 on the show. Thanks so much for having me. I 00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:02.080 appreciate it. And it was so great getting to 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:05.840 reconnect as well. All right. That's our show. 00:13:06.480 --> 00:13:08.960 I'd like to thank my former student, Eva Lopez, 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:11.940 for telling us her story. I also want to thank 00:13:11.940 --> 00:13:14.860 our listeners for tuning in. I'd also like to 00:13:14.860 --> 00:13:17.620 mention, if you'd like to be on the show, contact 00:13:17.620 --> 00:13:19.990 me. If you have a story to tell, I'd love to 00:13:19.990 --> 00:13:23.970 hear it. And then finally, our sponsors, of course. 00:13:24.590 --> 00:13:27.809 I'd like to thank laughsaver .com. Go to laughsaver 00:13:27.809 --> 00:13:30.769 .com and record your laughter. We'll keep it 00:13:30.769 --> 00:13:34.429 for you, now and forever. It's free, and your 00:13:34.429 --> 00:13:37.409 children, and your grandchildren, and your great 00:13:37.409 --> 00:13:40.029 -grandchildren, and probably a lot of friends 00:13:40.029 --> 00:13:43.230 will thank you for it. That's laughsaver .com. 00:13:44.470 --> 00:13:46.370 Of course, I'd also like to thank Sidelining 00:13:46.370 --> 00:13:49.500 Publishing, Publishers of great books, including 00:13:49.500 --> 00:13:51.980 Scott Summa's timely work, don't act like the 00:13:51.980 --> 00:13:54.659 president. I'm going to end this show, as we 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:58.320 often do, with Susan Salador's classic, Every 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:03.179 Moment, Every Day, available on Spotify, BTW. 00:14:03.639 --> 00:14:08.679 Ask Alexa to play Susan Salador. So until next 00:14:08.679 --> 00:14:12.379 time, this is Jay Rehack asking you all to stay 00:14:12.379 --> 00:14:16.440 safe out there and try not to hurt anybody. It 00:14:16.440 --> 00:15:05.940 is possible to be thankful It is possible to 00:15:05.940 --> 00:15:08.899 be thankful every moment.