Through my daughter's eyes

Any one that has spent time around kids can tell you that they do and say craziness that is beyond comprehension. They jump into conversations where they have no say, they blurt out things that are supposed to be secret, and they seem to have the need to drop a deuce at the most inconvenient of times. God saw it fit that for my punishment I have 3 of my own. Most of you have read about my Lil Champ aka The Boy. Today, I want to introduce to you my oldest - Cheech.

It's funny how kids see the world. It's even funnier when you start to make sense of what's going on in their little minds. Let's take Cheech for example. When she was a few years younger, there were only 2 types people in her world: brown and peach.

When she was around 5 years old she used love to draw pictures of the family. She would draw all of us at the beach. She would draw us all at the park. She would draw us all at a 4th of July picnic.We used to have pictures upon pictures of the family around our house. I used to worry that the EPA would come knocking on the door because Cheech must have gone through at least a forest worth of paper. One day Nelly asks me to look at a collection of pictures that Cheech has put together for school. She had pictures of her with Baby Girl and The Boy, one of her and Mommy, one of her and me, and one last one with the entire family together. Since Nelly is watching me as I look over them, I get nervous. Obviously I am supposed to notice something and not only that, but comment on it in an approving manner. I am starting to sweat like a hooker in church. With my quick wits, I say "nice." Nelly gives me that disapproving look that I have come to know all to well. She then says "do you notice anything about you and Baby Girl...?" As I look back over the pics, it hits me. Emily always colors Baby Girl and me brown and the rest of the family is peach. This is actually funny because that what our family really looks like. I start to look at the recycling center that used be Cheech's room and pick up some random drawings. I am brown in every single picture that she had drawn. The only way that I could distinguish between pics of me and our black friends was the hair style - mine is always spikey like a picket fence ;)

A few months after the time of the drawings I had a new position that required me to travel. I was traveling heavily for months from The Great State of Texas to the hippie filled land of Northern California. I am only seeing my family during the weekends and it was taking a toll on all of us. Rest assured, we were all thinking of each other every day. About 2 months into this gig, Nelly calls me and says "I can't wait for you to get home, Cheech saw someone on TV that looks just like you." I naturally assume it's The Rock. When I get home, Nelly pulls up the DVR menu and I'm flabbergasted. The Maury Povich show starts to play (yes, Nelly is addicted to trashy TV). This particular episode is dealing with people that changed from Geeks to Gods. As I'm waiting to see the TV version of me, the story starts to unfold...a huge, out-of-shape black teenager is being profiled. I find this intriguing since I'm not a teen nor black. Maury (or Murrry like everyone calls him) starts to show some footage of people thinking back on this young man - how he was shy, didn't talk much, didn't date. Then...BOOM! From backstage walks out a STOUT, OILED, Black man in a blue banana sling. At this point (as it was explained to me) Cheech jumps up and tells Nelly "THAT GUY LOOKS JUST LIKE DADDY!" The man on the TV was bigger than Clubber Lang (shout out to Mr.T). He was at least 6'3 and 250 lbs of solid bad ass. He was actually bigger than The Rock. The only resemblance was the banana sling that he was wearing. I could see how Cheech would equate that with me as I wear one around the house - in fact that what I am wearing as I type this. This is when I start to understand that in my little girls' mind, I am a giant black man.

Time is going on and race relations are starting to come into some conversations Cheech has around school. I start to explain to her that I am not an Afro but a Mexican-American. I am feeling good about teaching my oldest about our heritage. She is clearly not getting it as the next story will show.

I come home one day and find Nelly and Cheech in the kitchen. Nelly starts to tell me that Cheech is crazy and I concur with the assessment. That day, one of Cheech's friends told her that she was French. Cheech quickly disagrees with her friend. The little girl again proclaims her Frechness. Cheech replies with "then where is your little hat? French people wear that little black hat!" I start laughing because she thinks that all French wear a beret - thinking back on that, I agree that it's a good idea. I look at Cheech and say "You're Mexican and Salvadorian - you don't wear a sombrero and eat tacos every day". At this point she shoots a look at Nelly like she was trying hit her with Superman's heat vision. Nelly looks back at her and says "I told you that you were Mexican/Salvadorian!". Emily was under the impression that she was white.

Cheech's school is all about diversity and celebration of civil rights. When she was in 1st grade, she was learning about MLK. I find this AWESOME. I am proud of my nation, proud of the school system, and proud of Cheech. I ask her "What did you learn about Martin Luther King, Jr?" I figure this is an innocent enough question. This was the response: I learned that he was a great man. He gave speeches and changed things here in America. If it wasn't for Martin Luther King, Mrs. Smith couldn't be my teacher [fake name, but she is a black woman]. And....if it wasn't for Martin Luther King, Olivia couldn't be my friend [little black girl that she plays with]. Then she looks right at me and says "and you couldn't be my daddy...."

Cheech is now 8 and will be moving into the 3rd grade after this summer. I understand how she may get confused  - my dance skills, my ability to wear pink dress shirts, and I like to you yell out "HEY WOMAN" every chance I get. I still don't know if she realizes that I'm not black and she's not white. I do know that I'm still a larger than life figure in her life and that is more than enough for me.