The classic, age-old advice given to writers of any genre has always been, “Write about what you know.”

 

Sound advice. So, being asked to write a little something for the web page of the Gonzales family reunion should be easy, right? After all, I am a member of said family and have been for fifty-three years. Fifty-three years, that’s a long time, yet I find myself lost.

I used to think I knew our family, but now I wonder. There are so many confusing things within just the immediate family, much less all the nieces and nephews and their children. But I have to write something, so where do I start? 

 

Well, let’s start with our name – Gonzales. To give an indication of just how confusing things get with us, let’s look at that name. I’ve seen my Father’s and Mother’s (God rest her soul) birth certificates and other documents bearing their names. On none of those documents is the name spelled G-o-n-z-a-l-e-s. In fact, my mother’s name wasn’t even Gonzales, but that’s another confusing story. Anyway, all these documents show the name spelled G-o-n-z-a-l-e-z. The Z. The Mexican Z. I call it the Mexican Z because I’ve noticed that all real Mexicans (Mexicans from Mexico) have that spelling. So when, where, how and why was our last name changed? Who changed it? I don’t know, do any of you? 

 

Our family has history, as do most families, but what is that history? There are different versions according to who you ask. If you want to know the generally accepted version, ask the matriarch (according to me) of our family, the oldest of us – Maria de la Luz. However, if you do not know her, do not ask for her by that name because… well, that’s another confusing story. Anyway, she seems to be the one who has this kind of information, and old photos too. But be prepared to hear about witches, ghosts, tragedy, love lost, love won, the way it was, the way it should be and anything else concerning our family. A veritable fountain of information, and a pretty good sister too.

 

If you want to hear the, “Wow, really?” version of our family history, just ask our dad. I’m ashamed to say I’ve lost track of his age, but I think he’s in his late seventies. You’d better understand Spanish because his English is broken at best (he’s a real Mexican). I’ve personally sat and listened to his version of our family history and found it quite…well, let’s just say extraordinary. Be prepared to hear about witches, ghosts, gunfights, abductions, knife fights, midnight transactions and some interesting traits he swears we have inherited. He’s made mistakes and been through the mill, he admits it, but he seems to be none the worse for it. I don’t know when I started calling him “Old Man” but it’s pay back time because now my kids call me “Old Man”.

 

Then there’s Stella. She’s the only one whose current name is even remotely similar to her real given name. She’s the second oldest and also the most prolific of us in terms of proliferation. I may be wrong, but I believe she has a total of six children. If you want to know more about all her children you’d better ask Stella yourself because that’s another confusing story. Now many of those kids have families of their own. Thus our family grows. More interesting and, I’m sure, confusing stories coming up.

 

Juana. The third oldest sister. She died before her time but left us with some wonderful additions to the family. She is dearly missed by all of us and we look forward to welcoming her children, our nieces and nephews, more closely into the Gonzales family fold. Please bring any confusing stories you may have. Oh, I believe Juana was the only one of us who was always known by her true given name and who never divorced. That was Juana, always different.

 

The fourth oldest, or fourth youngest, sister is Whitney. You may wonder what kind of Mexican name Whitney is, but forget it because that’s another confusing story. She is the middle child but not in the classic sense because who is the middle child really in a family of seven kids? Anyway, we have been seeing more and more of Whitney even though she lives fairly far away. I think it’s because we all realize we’re getting older and feel a sort of urgency to not let these times slip away. I like to party with her.

 

Arnie. That’s me. I don’t know what it is with us and our given names, but we are what we are. Besides, unless you’re a real Mexican, you probably couldn’t pronounce my real name. Anyway, anything more you want to know about me you’ll have to find out at the Gonzales family reunion.

 

“O”. Yes, that’s her name. Well, that’s what we all call her. All our kids call her Auntie O. We used to call her Saspoo de las Mountains, but that’s another confusing story. She’s the sixth oldest sister and her real name is Oralia. It’s strange, but I believe most people outside our family actually call her by her given name, but that’s Oralia, a little bit strange. I like this about her because my youngest daughter looks exactly like her and is also a little bit strange. 

 

Then there’s the baby of the family, Del. He was born quite a while after the rest of us so had to mostly grow up by himself. We used to call him Junior because he was named after our dad. I call him Delvis but that’s another confusing story. He’s turned into quite a guy and we’re all proud of our little brother. Oh, he has a boat, so be friendly to him at the reunion.

 

I have purposely written only about the immediate Gonzales family, the children of Delfino and Hermelinda because we are the older generation. There were none before us who had family reunions. We used to have them more often but have not had any for years. This is disturbing. We are trying to get this important tradition going again and so I write about the older ones so that the coming generations can know a little something about us and be encouraged to find out more at the reunion. Ask us about all the confusing things in our lives. Ask us about our mother. We will certainly ask you many things. And as I wrote only about the older ones, I leave the future writing to the next generation so that none will be forgotten. Consider it a challenge.