The Day I witnessed true friendship; The day I met a true friend.

In the Summer of 1989, my older brother and I moved west into the community west of Belen Jesuit High. My ridiculously influential father and my notoriously proficient and prestigious mother, with their earned and deserved riches, bought a one acre lot, hired an architect, and built a house that became the envy of the neighborhood. 

A Year of imagination 

Knowing what I know now, having the perspective of experience, I can imagine what those kids (The 2 Santana brothers, and the 3 Alonzo Brothers; Danny, Joey, & Ivan fabricated in their head while witnessing the build that lasted a calendar year, and resulted in a masterpiece.)?

Skaters and Bros.

Yeah I know it’s juvenile, but as an adolescent it was important in a relative way. My brother and I had a skateboard posse in Sweetwater. In fact we still reminisce about the skateboarding influence of a dear friend from the old block. We where SKATERS, and we moved into a community of bros, aka (I ride a bike poser). 

5 bikes and 2 skateboards. 

A short time after moving into the custom fabricated and conspicuously excessive house. My brother and I where attempting to sharpen our skateboard skills on the neighborhood street. Suddenly the 4 1/2 horseman of the neighborhoods biker apocalypse rolls in to talk shit and evaluate, why 4 1/2? Because My best friends little brother was 5 years old. My brother and I where being SIZED UP! 

Brothers Perspective 

I adore and respect my brother, but my brother presumed the worse and assumed a violent and rejective posture. Interestingly, as if a product of programing, Every Alonzo Brother, and the juvenile younger Santana gravitated towards a defensive position in response. My brother understood the dynamics that I was too naive to understand. He was operating with more information. However, In that moment when my brothers defensive stance, and the neighborhood kids understandable negative perception of the Suarez Brothers materialized in a confrontation, only 2 kids wanted peace, and him and I recognized it immediately. 

Ultimately peace was reached among the 7 kids. The Santana brothers are forever intertwined in my families life story, and the Alonzo brothers became complicated but respected friends. The shadow of labels disappeared and we just started judging individual actions all because 2 out of 7 kids made allies nonverbally. In that moment I made a decision of who would be my best friend, the person that cut through the noise, wanted peace, and communicated nonverbally to a total stranger who wanted the same thing.