Here’s What My White Husband Has Learned About The Latino Culture One Day At A Time
[wam_anyclip file=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/AWWDvaD5ef3xbCGpQTh8/clip/AWWDv8o2ef3xbCGpQVEP/clip.mp4″ image=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/AWWDvaD5ef3xbCGpQTh8/clip/AWWDv8o2ef3xbCGpQVEP/1535513710802_thumbnail.jpg” title=”Latina Mom Apologizes to Son Years After He Came Out | Stories of Us – mitú” mediaid=”AWWDv8o2ef3xbCGpQVEP” contentowner=”87″]
My husband and I have been married for a little over three years now and he is still learning so much about myself and what it means to be Latino. I’m not talking about me having a big Cuban family all stationed in Miami (3-0-5 ????????) or the fact that the best jokes in Netflix’s “One Day At A Time” are in Spanish. I’m talking about the little things that to me have always been a normal part of life. This is what has continuously caught him off guard…
If you ask him, I’m already turning into my abuela because of the things he is finding out, which to me is a compliment. Here are just a few of the things that he is starting to understand about our future together.
1. Seasoning your beans is hard AF but abuela makes it look easy.
No matter how many times I try or how many techniques I use, my bean always turn out bland AF. This wouldn’t have been a problem if he didn’t have my abuela’s frijoles negro because now he has a reference point as to what beans are supposed to taste like. Though, he doesn’t cook so my bland beans will have to do.
2. That whole personal space thing is a white construct.
One of the first things he realized about being married to a Latino is that all that personal space he once had is gone. I even go into the bathroom to talk to him when he’s in the shower because that’s ???????? how ???????? I ???????? was ???????? raised. ????????
3. Family obligations cannot and will not be avoided.
Even if it means that you have to spend $800 to travel 3,000 miles back home for a weekend for your nephew’s first birthday, there is no getting out of family events. #BasedOnTrueEvents
4. My family raised me to be super eco-friendly (and very frugal).
The first time my husband saw me washing a Ziploc bag he asked if we had run out and that he could get some from the store. My response: “But, like, why do you want to waste money like that?”
5. Selena was and will always be La Reina.
I know. I know. How did he not know this before is what you’re thinking, right? But you can’t hold it against him. I don’t think Selena had a very big following in West Virginia. There was no way he could have known that she is more relevant now than ever. Not to mention that she still wins Latin Billboard awards and I play her music nonstop.
6. My abuela’s obsession with reusing containers has been passed down.
After he came down from the initial shock of thinking that I left the sour cream in the Tupperware cabinet overnight, he made a joke about me becoming my abuela. I’ve never been so proud.
7. Calling a loved one “gordo” is not offensive.
Because, you know, someone calling you “my little fatty” is not okay. Imagine his shock when he heard a family member call me “gordito” in front of him. He was shook.
8. Every chore I do is just an excuse to put on Celia Cruz and dance.
Sure, I can cook in silence but nothing makes my time in the kitchen more enjoyable than some “La Negra Tiene Tumbao” or “La Vida Es Un Carnaval” blaring in the background. Plus, he is starting to learn some of her greatest hits.
9. Seventy-five percent of Latino cooking is just making that sabor.
To quote my husband: “Oh. So ropa vieja is like making pot roast then you make the flavor (sofrito). Yeah. White people are too lazy to make all that flavor.”
10. Being extra and loud is just in our blood.
I still have that trophy on our desk in the living room and he has mentioned moving it a couple times. Then I stubbed my toe, fall to the floor in tears, and he remembers why it is so prominently displayed.
11. Hot Cheetos are life.
He didn’t know they were so versatile but he’s not upset that we get to eat them all the time.
[br]
