…I am reintroducing myself to you.
Why?
First of all because I like YOU!
Let me explain.
A few days ago I had a few minutes on the phone with fabulous Jen from CraftOmaniac.
Don’t you love her?
I do!
I had the chance to meet her for the very first time and share a wonderful girls night out with her yesterday.
I am so lucky… I know. I had a blast!
Here we are doing some shopping last night!
OK … lets go back to before we met.
After… I don’t know, a few minutes on the phone this is what she said:
{ Keep in mind that she had NEVER heard my voice before… }
“Oh, my GOSH! You have an accent!”
I had mentioned before that if you could hear me speak you will hear an accent when I talk,
but I think no one is prepared to know how I really sound.
How do I sound?
I sound like me.
{ one year old }
I was born on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean… In a small island call Lanzarote,
near to the North West Coast of Africa.
I spent the first 21 years of my life there.
A while ago believe it or not I was a little six years old girl that loved to play,
to spend long summers in the beach and dream BIG DREAMS!
{ school picture }
As a teenager if you asked me how did I imagine America
I would have probably described a scene of Bay Watch.
{ Sorry that was the closest thing to Google Earth back then }
My answer would had been something like this…
“Everyone wears red swimming suits and people don’t know how to swim that well…”
But what do you expect from a 12 year old…
I also spent my 80s in my little island… without an “accent” but listening for the very first time to tourists that had one 😉
And heck yeah with a Madonna attitude…
{ Los Carnavales! }
And before I knew I was 18 still rocking my wave!
I was all grown up loving the fact that I knew my world perfectly,
every street and every door…
every ocean and every shore…
every remote place of that small island that for so long I called home…
One day however I woke up and I realized I was in love!
In love with a man that had an American accent and go figure but he was in love with a girl that had a Spaniard one.
What a pair!
Yes… we got married and shared bellies.
{ My mon and dad with me at 6:00am, the morning that my handsome Devin was born }
And this same image repeated itself four times 😉
{ 6:30 am on my way to the Hospital with Mimi}
I am a blessed woman!
{ in the Hospital just minutes after our Mimi was born }
… Somewhere between those bellies something happened.
I realized that I had a new home and that somehow I was the only one with an accent now.
He didn’t have one anymore…
Confession Time:
I was back then a 20 something year old sad child!
For the longest time I hated my accent.
{ Can you believe it? }
It bothered me that I couldn’t speak PERFECTLY, that people could notice that I was from some place BUT not here.
I hated being different and I felt perhaps for the very first time afraid to speak.
I remember one day crying like a little girl inside of the bathroom of my first job here.
I had been in the USA for a few month and I felt like an idiot,
I could not communicate, I could not express myself freely,
I felt my accent and language was a thorn in my life and I hated it…
Between those tears of frustration and anger the memory of my grandfather came into my mind
and like a whisper inside of my soul his wisdom came to me:
“Desirée… why are you crying?
Don’t you see what you are doing?
Don’t you see that you sound just like me?
Like your mother…
{ my mom and I }
Like your roots…
{ my grandmother ( abuela ), my mom, me and my Saydi… Four Generations! }
Like your island…
You sound like you!
{ me }
I love this picture above because that is actually what happend.:
I opened my arms and my heart to my new accent!
I share this with you because I have noticed that so many of us have an “accent”.
Yes we do!
Some you can hear like mine… others you can see, like… a birth mark.
Some other accents we hide so well that we don’t allow anyone to see them for fear to be judged or to stand out.
The beautiful thing about our accents
is that if you really think about it Abuelo was right…
It makes you YOU and a anchor to those that you came from.
So I have an invitation for all…
LOVE YOUR ACCENT!
Love your YOU-niqueness!
Embrace it, share it, celebrate it… and hate will become love,
tears will become laughter, insecurity will become personality and fear will become courage.
And those around you will love you for who you are
instead of for how you look or sound.
I promise YOU!
Thank You Jen my Sweet Friend for a great evening!
Desirée
{ with an accent}
First of all, I love your new look and new picture! You are so beautiful in every way! Although I’m trying to be a better blogger I don’t spend that much time reading a zillion blogs like I should. Yours AND Jen’s however, are my favorites and I always read them first (and then usually stop there):) I think the reason people may be surprised by your accent (and mostly that English was your second language) is because you write so flawlessly!! You are such a better writer than most of us (for sure me!) and English was NOT your first language. I personally can’t get over it! CRAZY!
P.S. I haven’t even heard your accent but I’m already jealous of it! Thanks for sharing your wonderful personality with us.
Oh my goodness!
I am so touched by your comment.
God bless your beautiful heart. Thank you so much!
Like, like, like and love this post. I have been following you for a while now. I just adore the way you write and share your talents with us. Thank you for sharing more of your journey with us in such a sweet, endearing and thoughtful way. You are so lovely. Thank you. <3
Aww Kim!
Thank you for such a sweet comment!
Hola Desirée, so I guess i can comment in spanish!! aunque no he tenido oportunidad de vivir fuera de mi país (México) si he vivido en el norte-que es donde nací- y en la capital- que es donde vivo actualmente-…he sentido un poco de angustia porque el acento del norte es muy fuerte, muy marcado y el del centro/capital es muy cantadito…así que mis hijos iban a notar la diferencia y les iban a señalar su acento ‘tan extraño’…pero gracias a Dios, tuvimos mucha suerte, el acento de mis hijos ha causado conmoción en el buen sentido, les encanta a los compañeros de escuela y a las maestras les encanta oírlos hablar en inglés con el acento norteño…y pues yo, me encontré con un grupo de maravillosas mujeres en mi clase de pintura y de las 7 que somos, 5 son del norte, así que ya contagiamos a las otras dos y empiezan a hablar como nosotras…creo que es parte de madurar, aceptarte como eres y eso incluye tu acento!!! y tienes toda la razón tu acento te recuerda donde estan tus raíces que es lo que define en gran parte quien eres…we’re a complete package: dark hair, not so fair skin, outgoing gals who HAVE AN ACCENT!! I had always wondered where you were from because of the word BESOS at the end of every post…bueno hermana, te sigo leyendo…te mando un gran abrazo
Alexandra,
Gracias mi amor, por tomar el tiempo de comentar y compartir un trozito de ti conmigo!
Mil besos preciosa!
That was such a great post! I am from Texas and have lived here my whole life, yet people here, yes TEXANS, make fun of my accent! Isn’t that crazy?! I too had a time when I tried to change the way I talked-softening the countriness of my voice, saying “you guys” instead of “y’all” but about 2 years ago, I was sad that I had become someone that I was not. So I decided to become ME again and I’ve decided that there is no turning back. I like the way I talk. I love that when I’m around my family or even talk on the phone that my accent gets really think. And I LOVE that when I’ve been visiting my family for more than just a weekend, everyone can here it in my voice! And yes, we all live in Texas. My family lives only 2 hours away from me! Ha ha! Just goes to show how diverse accents and dialect can be in just one state alone!
Love it!
Good for you Jordan!
Have a great day my love!