When I first moved to Charleston I didn't know how in the world I was going to work with (let alone become friends with) a twelve-man crew from Mexico who made cat calls anytime I picked up a faster pace than a walk and left all their vegetable packing messes around the hangout for me to clean up. My only Spanish words at the time were hello, goodbye, thank you and good. But believe it or not we developed a healthy level of respect pretty damn quickly as we got to know one another, worked together, and as I learned enough Spanish to be able to speak up for myself
Yo no soy tu madre y yo no soy tu novia te niñitos
and listen to what work concerns and life concerns they could share within the thirty words of Spanish I know. My favorite answer for a long time was a smile, a soft nod of the head, lift of one shoulder and either quizás (maybe), mas tarde (later) and No! Dije horita! (No! I said now!). I know - I'm a little bossy.
It's felt weird not seeing their faces every day. And they are all on my hearts a lot lately as recently one of our field hands was killed in a car accident in Florida. And two others are traveling pretty big distances, which can be very unsafe for them. I'm blessed to have these sweet friends who look out for me and constantly call me amiga. Ambrose is a unique farm in that it provides the crew year-round work, as full-time as possible., while many farms scoot people off and away at the end of the season. We've developed a great team ethic over the years and I hope that that continues despite all the changes happening lately. Please keep them in your prayers and thoughts.
