Invitation to Queretaro

April 2009

Perhaps a visit to Queretaro, Mexico, in April of 2009 is a strange place to officially start “Calendar Memoirs,” a blog about my 8 months in the Dominican Republic in 2010. But I have put off starting for so long, perhaps I had to reach back to the true beginnings.

Cousin Nancy (my father’s cousin) was special to me for many reasons, but one was that, other than my brothers, I considered her the last living relative of my deceased father. They were very close as children on into adulthood. Nancy and I had many shared interests, and I hope calling myself an intellectual like her is not too presupposing. We both love art, learning, museums, and history within the cultural context.

Nancy and her second husband Hank lived in various countries teaching English as a Second Language, and as an older adult Nancy started taking Spanish classes. Nancy decided to house-sit for a month in Queretaro, Mexico, and asked me to join her for the week following Hank’s return to their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I think there was something comforting in having me with her, as one of my degrees is in Spanish.

Heather J. Kirk