Category: Hugo Torres

Life Aquatic

I could not wait to get into the water so I ignored my mother’s order to walk and not run towards the surf. 
This was the early 80s and unlike kids today I did not have to wait to apply sunblock or unload a myriad tools. No, all I had to do was open the car door and jet out towards the water with my parent’s yells become less loud with every rushing step. I stuck to the shallower part of the beach for some minutes allowing the frothy water tickle my toes. This made me shiver. Eventually I stepped further into the beach and started to really size up the waves breaking up ahead.
I must have taken a step to far before I realized I was out of my depth and instinctively turned around to head to dry sand. Too late, a big heavy wave pulled me towards it and heavy water pounded on my shoulder and head like a hammer. The next sensation was the pressure at my back pushing me into the depths while my scream let out a hundred air bubble out. Next came the sting of a rock hitting my knee and the feeling that this would never end. Somehow I found footing and I raised myself enough to get some air. That’s when the next wave hit and I was plunged back into the fear. Finally I felt a tug at my hand as my dad fished me out. 
When I cleared my eyes I saw him standing there with the water barely lapping his shins. He asked if I was okay. I told him I was. 
Years later, right before he died he retold me recounted his memory of that day. He said he thought I’d be okay in life because moments soon after this happened I was once again chortling out belly laughs while in the surf while occasionally keeping an eye on the breaking waves.

Dad Aid

So there I was this morning trying hard to ignore the unusual cacophony coming from other rooms in my house and trying to stay on schedule. Just as I was drafting one of a series of important emails to a client and was thinking of the words I’d say to the next one I heard the cautious footsteps of my youngest approaching my desk. 
She then preceded to tell me that her brother had cut himself in the leg. I braced for what was next. Sure enough when I found him in a ballerina pose there we blood at midway up his tibia in two distinct places and I winced. 
My job as a dad though is to clean, treat, scold and hug. I did all those and as I placed the last Band Aid on the kid and asked them to be more careful I had a flashback of me as a boy with a gash on my leg after some street-football on Eastman Ave in East LA.

I Beheld a Man

While waiting at a dentist’s office in El Monte my kids and I settled at some chairs and watched the Little Mermaid on the shared TV. They sat mesmerized by Ariel’s misadventures but my eyes were upon someone else. 
A man! 
He sat so still across the hall and his gaze was fixed upon a point I tried to identify. His skin had a shade of brown which had obviously been well baked under thousands of rays of sun over the years. His whisppy and thinning white hair was well manicured at both his balding head and pristine mustaches. 
A simple but elegant cane rested between his legs and on occasion his hands pressed the handle and he assured himself it was still there waiting along side him. 
He was thin but not frail. A stoic fixture in the room that commanded my respect without him saying one word. Maybe I saw the future in this gent? Could be I saw the past because he reminded me of my father? 
In any case he brought me joy while at the dental office and how many of us can claim that?

Bumped Up

I found a bump on my body today. A terror washed over me and as I toweled off I caught my reflection in the mirror. All a sudden I looked frail and I lost trust in my body. 
Then I thought about my wife and then my kids. Right after that I felt guilt of not having thought of them first. How terribly selfish of me. I did a lot of mental math and considered answers to short term concerns and quickly pondered what I could miss. My mind always goes for the worst.
 Now after visiting and talking to a doctor I found that this bump is a common condition. The MD joked that I’m sure to see a whole lot more sunrises in life. 
That’s a good thing…I’d hate to miss checking out more rainbows with those I should have thought of first.

Seconds from Disaster

I am not too familiar with the Buena Vista off ramp which Siri asked me to take. At 6:50ish in the morning, with the rain falling briskly and a husky white Tundra in my right side mirror I stepped on the pedal once the phone told me I had about half a mile to get off. When I thought I had enough room to merge onto the lane my hands began to gently turn the wheel and my little car’s momentum began to shift. 
Then without warning we all felt the hard punch as the front wheels slammed into a pocket of water I had not seen. Next, I felt through my feet how the right front tire lost connection to the ground which set us careening into space and a wall of unaware k-rails on the side of the car where my daughter and wife rested. Some instinct made my forearms twitch and I moved my wheel attempting to correct course. The car had ideas of its own though and our back end started to swing left onto the lane I had just tried to leave. Right before I took my foot off the break and I relaxed my grip off the wheel I did a quick glance at my rear view mirror. For a long fraction of a second I spotted my son’s frightened face and I noted his cry. The car slowed some, steadied course and I was finally able to regain control. 
Finally resettled I turned on my blinker and sheepishly took the off ramp, turned on the avenue and headed to the airport where my wife needed to be dropped off for an early morning flight. 
My heart is still feeling the effect of those few seconds of freeway action.

2016 Final Thought

A game of Jenga happened on New Years Eve. A few best friends and I played some rounds, enjoyed goblets of wine and snacked on some form of Belgioso cheese. At some point the cabs in the Cabernet took me over and I took a moment to settle myself on the couch. From that perch I looked over all my pals cheering or taunting. Imbibing and snacking. Our kids careening about and occasionally checking the status of the blocks and the overall soundness of the structure. 
In that moment a thought came about me. Things fall apart…that is a baked in feature of structure. The fun or challenge though is in playing the game with jolly good people. Each taking a turn building a higher structure with a limited amount of blocks. 
Yes eventually gravity will do its part but the group will then reset the game and start a new. Interesting que no?

Dead Stop

My dad and I got on the 60 Freeway going east at about 5:00 pm one day. I was 16 and it was a driving lesson. Back then our family had an old Ford Econoline van and I was in charge of all it’s 5,000 pounds.
Traffic was light as I got on the road and I was having fun feeling the van taking speed as I pressed on the accelerator. I kept on looking down at the Speedometer, proudly conscious the effect of my pressing foot and how it then moved the needle. I was so mesmerized that I didn’t really see the red lights in front of me and the traffic that had begun to stall. Right under the 710 freeway my father yelled at me to stop and by luck I found THE brake. The van’s wheels screeched and I felt my dad’s hands at my chest.

When we were stopped he looked at me for a while and then we had to move on. I didn’t drive again for a while and I can’t say I blame him.