{"id":2862,"date":"2020-08-19T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-19T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=2862"},"modified":"2020-08-18T14:49:16","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T14:49:16","slug":"bubers-basque-story-part-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2020\/08\/19\/bubers-basque-story-part-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Buber’s Basque Story: Part 15"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Their trip was only weeks away. Maite had had a long sit down talk with her parents, describing the opportunity and that, right now, she was only going for an interview, that she wasn\u2019t making any commitment to attend school in the United States. She could tell her parents were struggling with the news, but they tried their best to hide it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn my aita\u2019s generation,\u201d her aita said, \u201cthere wasn\u2019t a lot around here. If you didn\u2019t want to work in the mines or couldn\u2019t stay on the baserri, you didn\u2019t have many options. A few went to study to be a priest. But a lot of them went away to find their fortune. I remember one uncle who spent more than thirty years in Idaho before he came back. And a lot never did. Most found a life there, got married, had kids, and died over there.\u201d He shook his head. \u201cI guess it is the Basque way. There is always opportunity out there — in the pampas, in the wild west, on the seas — if you have the courage to go after it.\u201d He grabbed his daughter\u2019s hands, gave them a gentle squeeze. \u201cAnd I\u2019m proud of you for having that courage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buber’s Basque Story is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEskerrik asko, aita,\u201d replied Maite in almost a whisper, the tears welling up in her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her ama wrapped her hands — those hands that had washed so many dishes, chopped so many vegetables, fileted so many fish — around those of her husband and daughter. \u201cYou always make us so proud,\u201d she said. \u201cDo your best at the interview. If they accept you, we will figure out what comes next. But, this is a wonderful opportunity. This is what we always dreamed for you, for you to have the chance to follow your dreams. We couldn\u2019t be happier for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBiak maite zaituztet!\u201d exclaimed Maite as she pulled her parents into a hug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her aita broke the hug and, digging into his pocket, pulled out his wallet. He opened it and dug into one of the side pockets, pulling out an old, crumpled, and torn green note. He handed it to Maite. \u201cMy uncle gave this to me when he came back from America,\u201d he said as Maite unfurled the dollar bill, the image of George Washington staring back at her. \u201cHe gave it to me thinking I might find it useful one day if I ever visited the United States myself. Of course, I never went. And, I don\u2019t think this is worth much today, but maybe it will be a good luck charm for you on your visit. It always reminded me of adventure and the bigger world out there. May it do the same for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite grabbed her parents and pulled them back in for a hug, holding them tight as tears streamed down her cheeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Their trip was only weeks away. Maite had had a long sit down talk with her parents, describing the opportunity and that, right now, she was only going for an interview, that she wasn\u2019t making any commitment to attend school in the United States. She could tell her parents were struggling with the news, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2549,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Artboard-1.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-Ka","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2863,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862\/revisions\/2863"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}