In The Comedy of Errors, Antipholus of Syracuse tries to find a way to tell a woman he has just met in Ephesus that he is in love with her. In this excerpt, Jessa Marie Mendez shares the story of how her father tried to express his love to her mother.
“This Modern Love” by Jessa Marie Mendez (excerpt)
Esperar. It means wait, but esperanza means hope. Maybe that’s why I’m so messed up right now. My Spanglish got crossed and I’m waiting here because I’m hoping [things] will change I’m hoping you will love me I’m hoping I’ll stop missing home so damn much. I bet this is how my dad felt when he was learning English. So many stupid language rules. He wrote my mom a letter that said, “I am learning English for you,” which is crazy because Spanish is her first language, too, but I guess that’s what we do in this family. We strive to impress, to find codes that express our love. He died and the signals got crossed and Spanish became the language of secrets and sadness, a way for grief to slip from the tongue unfiltered.
