It’s a long ferry ride and many kilometers from home. He leaves his wife, son, and two daughters in Nayarit, Mexico to work in Baja California Sur. Jobs are scarce at home and he accepts his responsibility to care for his family, even though his heart reaches back. It’s not without sacrifice for them, but somehow they make it work.

Heriberto’s easy smile comes together with a sparkle in his deep brown eyes. After he’s been at our house two weeks working on the addition above the garage, we are accustomed to his raucous laughter as he chatters with the guys on the crew. It becomes obvious that his style of leadership makes everyone’s day seem more like a bit of fun than such noisy work as cutting through existing concrete and preparing the new.

Instead of the drudgery of mixing and then hefting cement in five gallon buckets up fifteen stairs, these trabajadores work through it by bantering with Heriberto. Hearing their laughter lifts our own spirits. It’s not all fun however. 

The temps are in the 90s these days, and the humidity fluctuates from the 60% to the 80%, making for long, hot days. Some days we can hear the thunder in the Sierra Laguna mountains as it heats up in the afternoon. 

I am curious about Heriberto’s family. Because my own sons don’t have any children, I’m not a grandma. It’s hard to imagine that I’ll never have grandchildren, but I have “adopted” a lot of “littles” in the last 13 years, and I’m okay with this arrangement. That’s why today I asked Heriberto to tell me about his niños. 

His youngest child is six years old and she likes to pretend she’s a Disney princess. Dressed in her princess outfit, she explains to her papi how she wants a princess bicycle. It makes my heart a little sad because he probably can’t afford to get her one. He lowers his voice, and expresses his delight with his charming arm movements, as he shares about his son and his older daughter too. “They’re good kids,” he says and his soft eyes and smile are full of pride. 

About a week goes by and I can’t stop thinking about the princess who wants a bike. Without fanfare I decide to see what I can do to make her wish come true. After talking with my husband, we agree that it would be fun to help Heriberto in this small way. I’ve checked on the internet for princess bikes and come up with an amount that will do the trick. But during our discussion, we realize that he has three niños, not just the princess, and we agree we must give him enough money to get the bike, and some left to surprise his older children too.

There is a fine line that must be considered as I know Heriberto might balk at accepting this from us. But my grandma heart tells me I can do this. I always listen to my heart, don’t you listen to yours?

As soon as the guys all go on a break the next day, I take Heriberto aside and tell him my plan. Just like I figured, he said, “No, no, Susie, you don’t have to do that.”

“I don’t have to, I want to.” I hold up my hand to stop him from arguing with me. “Listen, we don’t have grandkids. We would be spoiling them if we had them, but we don’t. So let us do this.”

I gave him my best pleading look, and handed him a card I’d made with the money inside. He acquiesced! I thought he was going to cry, but he looked at me with those soulful brown eyes and he said, “Gracias. Muchas gracias.” And we hugged. 

“There’s only one more thing, Heriberto.” He looked puzzled. “We want photos. That’s all. Just photos of the princess on her bicycle. That’s when he gave me his beautiful smile.

“You got it!” he said.

The other two kids decided they would save their money until they had enough for what they wanted—cell phones. Heriberto told us that he and his wife wanted to teach their children that they need to work hard and save their money, just like Papi does, and when they have enough, they’ll get their cell phones. 

Heriberto told his wife she should take money from their emergency fund and when he goes back in December, he’ll have the money to put back. They shopped for the bicycle that very day and I got videos from the store and a couple more a few days later. Such a treat. The smiles will stay with me for a long time. Probably forever!

A win-win for all of us, I must say. 

In the video she said, “Susan and Greg, thank you.” (in English). Look at this little princess. Happiness prevails.