Indigenous Wisdom with Julia Carmen

This month Julia shares stories of the women in her life that had a huge impact on her. Today we're sharing a story of her Tia Francisca.

Show Notes

Mother's Day Reflections

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What is Indigenous Wisdom with Julia Carmen?

Indigenous Wisdom is about opening yourself up and getting to know yourself better as a Human being on this Earth. In this podcast, Julia shares messages, channeled wisdom, and more to support your wisdom journey.

Julia Carmen (00:06):
Ola, beautiful light beans. Welcome to another Cafe Talk story podcast, the indigenous wisdom. I am sharing with you some stories of the women in my life that left a huge impact of who I am and who I be. And so today I would like to share a story of my Tia Francisca. And just a little backstory on her. She was my mom's best friend, like her bestie. You know how you have a friend like my Jacqueline, you just have someone that's there for you and you be there for each other in ways that just looking at each other, you know what the other one needs. Yeah. So we weren't related and Mexico, and I think in a lot of cultures, everyone's your TIA and Tio and all that good stuff. And my Tia Francisco, I always thought she was like my mom's sister because my mom had a big family, huge family, and she had sisters, but she didn't always get along with all of them. But she did get along with my T. So here's the story that I wrote about her a while back. Yeah, it's called the Popcorn Story.

Julia Carmen (01:33):
It was 1957 and my Tia, Francisco and I were the only ones home. We lived in the Mission district in San Francisco and she was living with us and she was getting ready to have her baby girl. From what I heard, she had a lover in Mexico. He was married with children, and she was madly in love with him. I remember my mother and her talking story in the bedroom about him, my mother holding her while she cried, cried saying in Spanish how much she loved him. How is she going to live without him? And what about the baby?

Julia Carmen (02:20):
My mother being so strong for her and saying to her that she had her back. However you say that in Spanish. Yeah. It was one of the first times I saw my mother so strong in regards to men as she was so weak around them, taking care of their every need and wants. How she was always there, never seeing her needs and wants only his. I remember hearing how my father had many women and possibly children somewhere. So it was strange to me actually that my mother was comforting. The other woman. The other woman, when there were so many other women in my mother's life, I heard her share with my, that she even walked in on my father with another woman in bed, right in bed with this other woman Anyways, and as she was comforting, mythe the other woman with child, but as a little girl of four or five years old, it was normal to hear such stories in our household.

Julia Carmen (03:51):
So normal, but yet confusing at the same time. What does popcorn have to do with my Tia and my mother and the other woman? Well check this out. One day and I were in the kitchen getting ready to make popcorn before microwaves. Okay, here we are with the pot and Crisco and some popcorn and of course a lid. And she asked me, Mia in Spanish, okay, how do you make this popcorn? And I told her, you put the Crisco in the pot and let it melt. And then you put the popcorn in the hot pot with the Crisco and most of all cover the pot with the lid. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, no, it can't be that way. How will you know when it's ready? And I try to tell her that if you don't, the popcorn will pop all over the place.

Julia Carmen (04:54):
Might Thea knew corn. She lived in Mexico and the women would go to the mill and grind the corn to make the corn tortillas. This was done weekly. I'm guessing she knew her corn, but not this one. So I was raised to respect my elders and I love my tia so much. She was way cool. But this time I decided to leave her alone out of respect. Now what happened next and that it happened, the Crisco got very hot and the popcorn began to do its thing. We had popcorn flying out of the pot and I was standing there holding the lid and my little hands, my Tia started to laugh out loud for all she's worth. I can still hear her laughing. It was so funny. Oh my gosh. And then I laughed and we were crying, but we were crying, laughing, right? One that was needed in our household as there was not much laughing out loud going on there. At that time, my Tia looked at me and said, hi, mha. You were right. You were right.

Julia Carmen (06:20):
You're so right. Yeah. And then we continue to laugh and laugh until we actually peed our pants. She, because she was pregnant, like big pregnant, and me because she peed her pants. And then we kept laughing and laughing. Just so much fun. Oh my gosh. It was so much fun. And we ate our popcorn off the floor, off the stove, wherever it fell. I can still see her big belly and most of all, her big smile of happiness, no longer missing her lover. At least for those few moments. I miss my fca. She passed away in 2009. Her beautiful daughter who loved her and cared for her until her dying breath, her last dying breath.

Julia Carmen (07:15):
Your lover gave you a lover of a daughter who loved you so much that you were never a burden to her. What a gift he gave you. I guess sometimes what we think is a big mistake is only a detour to the real life we have only dreamt of. Amen. Thank you for listening to this story. Yeah, I'm laughing and I'm giggling, and those memories come back and yeah, so blessings to you in knowing that you have folks around you that you have remembered and honoring them every day and thinking of them and laughing and crying. Thank you for listening in. Thank you so much for joining me today for this episode of The Indigenous Wisdom Podcast. Be sure you're subscribed to our podcast on your favorite podcast player. You'll find us on Apple Podcast on OB Spotify, and of course on our website, the School Without wa.net. And while you're there, why not sign up for our newsletter so you'll be the first to know about upcoming events. That's the School Without walls.net.