Papa's Crosses
The quinceañera party for our sister churches ended with good-byes in the pathway that marks the boundary: one gang territory over here, the other over there. We walked from over here and up the hill to over there and settled into the van for the ride back to our little hotel. We were tired from the heat and celebration and emotion of the day. We all felt it - a little sadness in our hearts that one family, and one fifteen-year-old girl in particular, had been left out of the celebration. The girl is a friend. Some of us have known her all her life. Some of us only knew her from photographs and stories. One of us, one of our quinceañera princesses, has known her for a year. The two girls met last summer, and in one of those mysteries of friendship, the two girls grew close. Heads together all the time. Giggles. Sharing little secrets girls share when language doesn't matter. The quinceañera party was something the girls dreamed about and as it became a real planned ev