Leave a lasting impression
(even when you’re not aware you’re doing it)
We took our first trip to Cabo San Lucas in 2008 and continued booking our trips every other year since then. If we had been able to go this summer, it would have been our first year going 2 years in a row. I will miss many things about Cabo, but one of them will be seeing my “boutique buddy”.
The red rosary bracelet was made for me by this wonderful transgender young man who worked at the boutique on the resort at Pueblo Bonito Sunset Beach. The boutique was privately owned and it seemed as if their only employee was my buddy, because he was there every time I visited (multiple times every trip). The last time I saw him (3 years ago) he told me he was so happy to see me back this year. I must have looked really surprised that he recognized me because he said “you come visit me every other year, I remember you.” He was hand making these little red bracelets and he explained that you can recite the rosary with them, “You can carry God with you everywhere.” He immediately put one on my wrist and told me he was giving me one to remember him.
The resort had cancelled their lease and he was losing his job after 15 years. I was suddenly hit by sadness, not because I had necessarily thought of him as a friend, but he was a staple at the resort, a smiling, familiar face. The fact that he remembered me, and our family, as loyal customers was impressive. I was touched that he considered me a friend and said he would miss me.
He proceeded to hand over 3 more bracelets, 1 for my husband and each of my daughters. (In fact, he made sure to give me a big one because my husband was a “big guy”. I’m pretty certain my husband had been nowhere around during my shopping.) He said they were a gift to remember him by and I immediately shoved $30 in his direction. Told him I was gonna miss him to and 3 years later it’s one of the first pieces of jewelry I put on daily. It reminds me of Mexico, of times spent relaxing in the sun, of vacationing with my Mexican sister and her family who fly from Mexico City to spend the week with us, of shopping for jewelry on the beach or in the markets, finding New Mexican blankets for our homes, meeting up with friends from home who retired in Cabo and so many other more glorious memories.
It’s a wonderful feeling to have an affect on people’s lives. When a smile can make you memorable. How you treat someone makes them look forward to more interactions with you. I’m so happy to have had a positive affect on my young friend. I pray on my rosary bracelet that he is well, employed and just maybe we will run into each other again.
