This is the motto of the state of Ohio and though I am not very churchy, I am willing at this point to go with God because I am at the end of my nanny rope.
The Child has become officially impossible and her deadbeat dad is off roaming someplace and has left me hung out to dry with a difficult little buckeye on my hands. But, she is just a kid and as Woody used to say to me when I was sitting on the bench, paralyze resistance with persistence.
So in the spirit of persistence, I went out to Morse road to try and find something to make peace with her. And I found this amazing store.
They sell just about everything from Mexico and pretty instantly I found what I was looking for.
Fresh cactus, right off the tree, bush, vine, whatever. But, the thorns were still in place and I don’t know how to deal with them but lucky for La Gringa, safety cactus comes harmlessly tamed in a jar. I cannot take the child to her dad in Guadalajara but I can bring a little of Mexico to her.
The Mexican supermercado is muy fantastico and this shrine to the virgin of Guadaloupe that is next to the produce section says it all. When I was wandering by the meat counter I started chatting with this woman, Margaret who was buying spicy chicken to grill.
Margaret is from Cameroon in west Africa. She told me that she can get any African products she needs here in Columbus, right at the supermercado, actually. Margaret said she misses her parents but otherwise she loves it here.
Next door to Michocana is another store, the Jubba Halal meat market and it is run by this fellow, Farrah.
Farrah is from Somalia and I bought some amazing coconut cookie bars from him and we chatted about the complicated politics of his country. He too said that he loves it here, and the "USA is the best country in the world", which kind of surprised me, considering our recent history with his homeland. He told me he was from Mogadishu and when I asked him what he missed about Somalia he told me “I miss walking for miles and miles in my city. And playing soccer.”
This is Deb in the City, globetrotting on Morse Road from Mexico to Cameroon to Somalia in Columbus, OH.
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