my mexican

Would you like to know what it’s like and how to be married to a Mexican?  My tell-all experience follows… (“tell-all”, it’s like a People Magazine special!) 

Disclaimer: I only have nine months of experience.

1.   Expect to eat full meals on a regular schedule or you might find that you’re living with an unreasonably grouchy person.  Expect the meal to contain meat and some sort of spicy thing.  Learn to like Coke and you’ll share a special bond with your Mexican husband.

2.   Even Jaime’s generation has underlying macho man tendencies.  It’s been passed down for generations – so you gotta be patient.  It’s not personal – it’s ingrained.  Open up, share your feelings, and nip that potential problem in the bud.  

3.   He’s more sensitive than you think/he usually shows.

4.   Be loyal.  Consider his feelings before making fun, criticizing, or being passive aggressive.  Try to keep the sass attack inside you under control when it comes to your relationship.

5.   He wants to feel like a man.  In other words – don’t be his mom.

6.   If you don’t (or can’t learn to) like pet names and sugar sweetness – you’re not cut out for this. 

7.   He’ll have a lifetime of English questions/doubts.  Be gentle with language issues if you expect the same consideration in return!

8.   He’s not anal (like us) about saving money, planning 10-50 years in advance, and having 13 different types of insurance.  He just wants to have a good time.

9.   Problems are dealt with when and if they arise.  He won’t try to figure out how not to have a certain problem and won’t waste time worrying about non-existent dilemmas.  (Example – Carrie stresses about how to have a good marriage in 10 years…10 years?!  How’s our relationship doing today?  That’s all we have to work with!  Geeeeez.)

I have a feeling that a few of these might just be normal experiences with any male.  Some things above might be unique to Jaime and me.  What’s it like to be married to a US man?

To wrap up here – marrying a Mexican isn’t the easiest road you could take for sure.  However – there’s a great beauty in learning about another culture so intimately.  You start to look at your own country more clearly – understanding that there’s more than way of doing things and thinking about things. 

And hey – we’re all living just fine – US people, Mexico people, everybody else (sorry rest of the world).  It’s humbling and inspiring to learn that you don’t know it all and that you’re definitely not always right.  Loving my Mexican has taught me that.