Saturday, February 15, 2014: Holy cow Sam! It was so great to see you today! Happy Belated Valentine’s Day! I am very happy today. It’s been almost a month since I last saw you. In fact I brought some of the Christmas gifts you have not had a chance to open yet. The visit did start with the usual drama courtesy of Maria Guadalupe Tenorio Toledano (AKA Lupita Tenorio, Marsha Tenorio). The court official and I were right on time. Maria Guadalupe answers the door and tells us you were at a friend’s house. The court official had to remind Maria Guadalupe where you need to be on Saturdays and told her to go get you. She did not like that and certainly took her sweet time getting you. Forty-five minutes later you were finally home.
With Maria Guadalupe directing things, I knew you would not be happy when you walked in the door. And frankly Sam, I don’t blame you. I have not seen you in almost 2-months. It’s not for the lack of trying as you are now reading. Time after time, these people makes plans for you on Saturdays when they know damn well they shouldn’t. And it’s no accident. This time you were at a friend’s house at the time we arrived. And it sounds like you were at a sleepover. Fine. However, you should have been home at 10:00 on a Saturday. You have no way of knowing that, so you being angry is not your fault. I get it.
After drawing some pictures on the easel, I made a paper airplane all decorated with a special “I LOVE YOU” message in it when you unfolded it. The court official saw your frustration and started to talk to you, trying to warm you up. Which worked perfectly. You finally asked me the million dollar question, “where have you been?” Luckily for me the court official brought the entire case file with him. I pointed to it and explained to you that file sitting there is the reason why our visits have been so few and far between. You looked at that 12-inch thick stack of paper in amazement. I was relieved to know you are mad at me because of the time apart. As you read this, you understand I am just as angry. I can deal with that. And with that, the walls of disappointment were slowly starting to come down.
Of course none of this stopped Maria Guadalupe from interfering every chance she could. At one point the court official told her to stop it and leave us alone. She did not like that too much either. A few moments later she asked us what time we were leaving. We were there barely an hour and she wants to know when we were leaving. She went on to tell us that Axel Alvarez Coronel (AKA Axel Coronel) had a school formal he had to be at by 12:30, as if I would care about that. I took the opportunity to get something in return, my stolen cell phone.
Sitting right next to me you had overheard the conversation and offered your thoughts on the situation. “Dad, mom does not have your cell phone.” I had inquired as to how you know Adriana Coronel Tenorio (AKA Adriana Howitt Coronel, Ari Coronel, Ari Coronel Tenorio, Ari Howitt, Ari Howitt Coronel) doesn’t have my phone. You told me you know because “she told me she doesn’t have it”. Why would Adriana have this conversation with Sam at all in the first place? Reminding you of our pinky promise that I would never lie to you, I mentioned that I would not have asked Maria Guadalupe for the phone if I actually had it in my possession. And we already knew where the phone was. It was still in the house last we checked. So, with that I made Maria Guadalupe a deal, she gives me back my stolen phone and we will leave early so Axel Alvarez Coronel could attend his school function on time. Maria Guadalupe stormed off.
For me it was a win-win situation. She will either produce the phone or I would be spending the rest of the day with you. I win either way. Maria Guadalupe storms back into the living room with an aggressive tone. This is when I started to roll video. I wanted to know what she was saying. The court clerk escorts her to the kitchen to take the focus away from us. She was clearly under pressure to either get Axel to this school function on time or she was under orders to not give me the phone. This game of chicken was about to get interesting. After making a few phone calls, Maria Guadalupe goes into a kitchen drawer and pulls out my stolen phone. Unbelievable!
There it was Sam, the stolen cell phone Adriana told you she already gave back to me. You were just as shocked as I was. As far as I knew this was the first time you actually caught Adriana lying to you.
Remember, the court official is taking notes as to what is going on the entire time. They have to report all this back to the judges. So, he asked me if that was the phone. I said it looked like the phone. Lets turn it on and find out. With Maria Guadalupe standing right there, I turn the phone on and wouldn’t you know it the phone was wiped clean. I showed the court official the difference between the two phones and explained what we did when we knew they were trying to hack into it. He turns and asks Maria Guadalupe that if they did nothing wrong, why did they go to such trouble to hide the phone? Of course Maria Guadalupe had no answer for that not knowing she was being video tapped the whole time.
Sam, the look on your face was priceless. “That’s your old phone” Those were your exact words as you compared both phones. Of course you asked if you could have my old phone, which was adorable. I promised you the phone is yours after I take it back to San Diego to make sure the phone is OK. Absolutely the phone is yours. I will download Club Penguin and Angry Birds. I will also set you up with an email account so we can communicate. I will also load the phone with pictures of us. These pictures have kept me going these last 5 years.
After all that drama unfolded, your attitude changed completely. You immediately went from being angry to not wanting us to leave. I explained to you that we made a promise to Maria Guadalupe and unlike all of them, I honor my promises. But I promised to have the phone ready the next time I come back. Maria Guadalupe whisked you away before we could say good bye. We resorted to blowing kisses through the window of the truck.
It was stunning how all of this went down. Adriana told several different stories about where the phone was. Adriana lied to me. She lied to Lourdes. She lied to 2 judges. She lied to police. And more importantly Adriana lied to you! Get used to Adriana doing this to you Sam. It’s not going to stop here.
I LOVE YOU SAM! Mucho Mucho Mucho Besos! Mil ocho mil Hermosa!
