I love flags. My mother made homemade banners for birthdays, Christmas, Easter, Halloween… you name it. Although I didn’t inherit her craftiness, I definitely feel a little thrill when I see something colorful snapping and whipping in front of our house.
The other day, I had our Mexican flag flying proudly. The back-story is each member of our family has a flag: I’m Norway, Lara is Slovakia, Marc is Great Britain and Chance is Ireland. So they get their flag on their birthday, or other special occasions. Katie had just returned from her freshman year at college, so the green, white and red tricolor of Mexico was flying high.
My uncle and I were chatting around the Weber grill – he’s visiting from Austin so his son could join Chance at City College baseball camp – and two women I’d never seen before ambled up the driveway.
“We just wanted to say we admired your flag. Is it because of the World Cup victory over Germany?”
I informed them it’s just a happy coincidence and they laughed: “But wasn’t it a heck of a game?”
We chatted a bit more, and it turns out I was speaking with Mexico’s consul general in Sacramento.
Liliana Ferrer moved to Curtis Park last year, and she was taking a turn around the neighborhood with her mother, who was visiting from Mexico. Ferrer graduated from Del Campo High School when her father was consul general, and she’s following in his footsteps.
We chatted a little about fútbol, a little about the weather, and a little about nothing in particular.
They went their merry way, and we returned to our grilling. It was a perfect Curtis Park capstone to a fine Curtis Park day. I’d already walked with the kids over to Crocker Village to see the earth movers, popped into an open house hosted by an SCNA board member, chatted to a woman on Marshall Way about her in-full-swing front yard redesign, and picked up some discount socks from a Portola Way couple who are getting out of the sock business. Apparently, there’s not a lot of margin on socks, not even purple, black and pink ones.
I’ve returned to this theme over and over again during my tenure writing this column, and it seems to be nigh inexhaustible: Curtis Park is an amazing neighborhood that never ceases to surprise me with new experiences, fascinating people and simple pleasures.
Republic of Curtis Park indeed: Maybe we should get our own flag?