Today For You, Tomorrow For Me
It’s unspoken contract. An honorary promise. The strongest measure of your personal reputation. That today, what is asked of you, or what you are asking for, will be reciprocated, in the form of an apadrinamiento. Rarely of a simple baptism, Confirmation or first communion. Instead, a dollar for dollar match of your investment in another’s rite of passage – usually a wedding or quinceañera. It’s riskier than a tanda, for in matters of the heart, and teenagers igual, rarely do we have any control, and a full return is never guaranteed. What begins today in a promise of forevermore can end tomorrow in a “¡vete al diablo!” without even so much as a warning. Still we pride ourselves in our padrinos and compadres and even the best of mexicanos will someday ask…” today for me, tomorrow for you.”
¡Sin pena! Seamos padrinos.
NOTE: This post is no way, shape or form constitutes an open invitation for apadrinamiento requests to the author, either verbally or in writing. Any such requests are made at your own risk – the author claims no responsibility for outbursts of laughter, anger or disbelief.