6/5/2007 - Wish for sister created a family

By Susan Hopewell
Long Beach Press Telegram

5/28/2007

I remember the day I ran home from Jordan High School eager to ask my mom for a sister.

I was the only girl in the family of one younger and one older brother. It was the spring of 1964.

My mom was 42 and I was 15. She was more than a little relieved to hear I wasn’t expecting a baby sister from her and Dad, just asking for a foreign exchange student sister.

Of course, at 15, I had no idea of the magnitude of my question. It was the middle of the ‘60s and I was asking my folks to take responsibility for a teenage girl from some foreign country yet to be determined. I just thought it would be so cool to have a sister.

My parents were so brave. They said yes. And so began the process of filling out paperwork with the American Field Service, the family interviews and home inspection. Then the long wait to see if we were an acceptable family.

Finally, we were notified that Maria Cristina Torres, a 17-year-old from Bogota, Colombia, would become a member of our family for the school year of 1964-1965. I was going to have a sister! For once, I couldn’t wait for school to start.

Maria arrived in downtown Los Angeles via Greyhound Bus with many other AFS students. We were to pick her up at 9:30 p.m. on Monday, August 31.

I can still remember my dad driving us down the freeway and my mom changing her clothes in the front seat of the car on the way. My younger brother Jack and I were in the back seat doubled up with laughter at the sight of clothes flying everywhere as mom changed out of her bowling clothes into something, as she put it, “more appropriate for meeting my new daughter”.

We made signs to welcome Maria. We wanted her to know how excited we were to have her join our family.

Unfortunately, when we arrived we found the bus had arrived two hours early and all the exchange students had been picked up by their families. Everyone that is, except a somewhat lost and forlorn looking girl sitting patiently with an AFS chaperone – Maria.

Our late arrival was quickly forgotten as we all started talking, laughing and hugging each other. The conversation was fast and furious and after the initial excitement of the moment it was clear, very clear, that little of the conversation was understood by any of us.

Maria’s 7 years of English and my 4 years of Spanish didn’t provide much help in those first few minutes, or in the next few days. It would take a couple of weeks before the conversation became easier, but the love started immediately.

The first night was a bit awkward. But that quickly changed when mom brought us milk and cookies. Maria and I stayed up late, “talking” as only teenagers can, eating Mom’s homemade “delee-whoppers.” I have long since lost my love for these cookies but they remain Maria’s favorite.

That school year was perfect. Maria joining our family was truly a match made in heaven. It has been 43 years and Maria is still my sister.
And our family was welcomed with open arms into her family. I was 21 the first time I met Maria’s family. My family and I traveled to Colombia and stayed with her parents. I remember the first time I saw her mother. She hugged me and kissed me on the cheek all the while saying, “mi hija, mi hija” (my daughter, my daughter).

We have visited each other many times in the past 43 years. We’ve shared the joy of weddings, the birth of children and grandchildren and comforted each other in our times of sorrow. We have become one family.

And, to my American mom, Marge Hopewell and to my Colombian mom, also named Maria Cristina Torres: I love you both.