Naked Shenanigans
Choosing to go back to school as a mom in my late 20s was not an easy decision; still, I knew it was the right one. I had heard great things about the university, and was excited to finally be transferring out of community college. Although I will admit, an all-virtual learning experience was not how I’d envisioned my first semester at university.
Most professors give students a choice as to whether or not to have the webcam on during class, but my Spanish literature professor is the exception; she insists that we leave the camera on at all times, which is inconvenient to say the least, because, well… I’m a mom.
During our last class meeting via zoom we analyzed Querido Diego, Te Abraza Quiela; an altogether intriguing, romantic and heartbreaking series of fictional love letters to Diego Rivera from his lover (“Quiela”), whom he had abandoned months before.
Diego never responds to any of the letters, but Quiela’s love for him was unwavering, and so she kept writing, week after week, month after month, without fail.
“That JERK!” I thought to myself “How could he abandon her? How could he just leave Quiela and his son like that?” I was in a trance.
I could physically feel her pain, and with every letter she wrote, my heart ached; almost as if I were the one writing them, almost as if I were there, almost as if —
“ MOM! WE NEED CLOTHES!” My son yelled as he and my nephew barged in the room completely naked after a bath.
I could see them from my computer monitor, and I saw my face turn bright red too.
Props to my classmates and professor for pretending nothing happened as I desperately gestured the kids out of the room.
