Meeting My Unknown Cousin
Throughout the years, my mom would always tell me stories about her favorite brother, Antolin, or so it seems. She would tell me how they used to play many games in their free time, how he used to help her plant flowers, how Antolin would always protect her whenever he thought something terrible could happen to her. They would call each other cute funny names, they even invented a language that only they knew about, she told me how they would always be giggling, and how she used to wash & iron his clothes for him to be looking like a “male doll.” They were inseparable since they were little. When I was little, my mother would always show me pictures of him, but never was I told he had a daughter that lived somewhere in the United States.
When I first heard about my uncle, Antolin, daughter who I’ve never seen, met, or known before. I didn’t know how to feel. All I knew was that I wanted to met her and her family. Her name is Jadelin and her mom’s name is Candy. She was just 4 years old when they used to live in the Dominican Republic with my uncle. My family would live nearby and see them in a daily basis. They would take care of Jadelin or Jade as we all call her, when Candy and my uncle Antolin had something to do. Most of my family ended up moving to the United States for a better future for the their future generations but Candy and Jade stayed behind in the Dominican Republic. They still didn’t receive their Visa to the United States as the rest of my family received theirs. When my family moved to the United States, most of them lived very close to each other, either in the same building, in the same street, or a few streets away from each other. Antolin always kept in touch with his family to see how they were doing, always sent them money when he had a job for them to take care of themselves, and always made sure they were never missing anything. It was hard but he made it through it.
Candy and Jade ended up getting their Visas and arriving to the United States. My uncle didn’t know what to do or how to act when he saw both, his queen and his princess, all over again. All three of them, would go out, have fun, and make memories with the rest of the family. But, a few months after they came to the United States, my uncle started talking to everyone who lived around him. He still had the custom from the Dominican Republic that your neighbors were your family, you should always treat them with kindness, respect, trust, and always have manners towards them. Antolin started talking and socializing with their neighbors, some were great people but other weren’t. He ended up being a little bit too nice to the incorrect person and helped them carry their bags upstairs. Antolin turned his back for what seemed like a second and the man plotted a gun in my uncle’s bag. He ended up going outside with his satchel, clueless about what even occurred. There was policemen outside the building, they looked at my uncle with suspicion as if they knew my uncle had the gun inside his satchel. The policemen went up to my uncle and asked him if they could check his satchel, Antolin didn’t have anything to hide and let them. He was falsely accused of murder and a felony of possession of a stolen firearm something he didn’t commit. My family stepped in to help Candy and Jade while he was sent to jail. The man my uncle helped carry the bags up for, ended up disappearing right after my uncle was accused of his crime.
After Antolin, had repeatedly told Candy to move on because he knew his case wasn’t going to be proven innocent until years have past by so he had to let her go even if he didn’t want to. She ended up listening to him because he wanted them to have a better future, for the love of his life to find someone to take care of them and love them as much as he does. Only for a few months my family had contact with Candy and Jade, once the moved away from the family, my whole family lost contact with them. Nobody knew what had happened to them, if they moved to another place in the United States or moved back to the Dominican Republic.
Antolin was found innocent after he served 22 years in prison. Just like that miracle happened, a year later Candy ended up contacting my godmother/ aunt, Dulce, through Facebook. They ended up talking and little by little my whole family knew about how they were, where they lived, how they have been for the past years, and etc. Jade wanted to know more about her father’s side family just as we wanted to know more about her. Jade was 27 years old, more than 20 years had passed by since my family last saw both Candy and her. Everyone still loved them even though they moved away and lost contact with the family.
Candy and Jade live in Pennsylvania and decided to arrange a day to come to New York City to meet us. I was 13 years old when the rumor started spreading like wildfire, almost everyone knew they were coming the following week to met at Dulce’s house. The week passed by so quickly, everyone was waiting for them by the second of the minute of the hour, it just felt so long. When my aunt received Candy’s phone call that they were downstairs waiting for the elevator to come, my sister and I raced to the 5th floor elevator door waiting to see how they looked, what type of people they were, how taller were they, and if they were as beautiful as everyone described them. Once the elevator door opened, I said “hi,” hugged them tightly and started introducing myself. I was so happy because they were just how I imagined them to be. The whole time we were catching up, introducing the whole family, taking pictures, and I was translating for them because Candy learnt a little bit of Spanish with Antolin but Jade didn’t know at all. Jade showed us pictures of her family and different events that happened in her life. There was even a moment where Antolin and Candy talked, she was crying from how much she missed him and how much time had passed by since they both saw each other. They would always love each other deep down inside their hearts. Candy and Jade loved the Dominican food that was cook for them. But sadly they had to leave before it got too late to be driving at night. I didn’t want them to leave, I wanted them to stay at least the night everyone would of welcomed them to their homes including myself. They ended up leaving and now we stay in contact through Facebook and through our phone numbers. I will never forget how I finally met my cousin for the first time.
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