Me? A reality show? Is it gonna be humiliating? Fine, where do I sign up?

So, by now a lot of you have seen my episode of SYL, heck I even got recognized at Wal-Mart, HE-EY! All joking aside I must admit this has been a whirlwind experience… I had a small group of family and friends over to watch the premier of my episode and it was so much fun! We laughed, we cried and then we hugged it out, bitch! But let me tell you about a couple of things you didn’t get to see on TV!

Since I have a couple of points I want to talk to you about… I am making this behind the scenes blog a multi entry type of deal, here’s the first part.

#1 THE INTERVENTION!
First of all… who goes “candy shopping”??? I love how Charles goes “I happen to know that Caro and her mom will be candy shopping today”. What? When have I ever done that? Seriously, it’s hilarious! What really happened was that my mother was aware of the fact that I had been cast on the show and with the help of the lovely Geraldine (one of the associate producers of the show) she came up with this elaborate scheme to get me over to the Fresh Market where we were allegedly “candy shopping”.

My intervention was on a Friday, the Wednesday prior to that my mom got a call from Geraldine telling her I had been cast and that she would be coming by later on that day, hopefully when I wasn’t around, to go over some details. I was downstairs when my mother got the phone call, so when I came upstairs I noticed my Ma was looking at me with that doe eyed I’m-so-proud-of-you look only a mother can give you (clue #1), so instantly I was like… “What’s wrong?!”. Since I was scheduled to have a meeting with the executive producers of SYL that coming Friday, she told me she just had a feeling everything was gonna go great for me. Mhmm.

Come Friday morning I wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed for my supposed interview with the executive producers of the show. I take my time getting ready, too. I washed my hair, put on my make up and picked out the right clothes, all the while being surrounded by cute animated woodland creatures and the slight hint of Ariel’s voice singing in the back ground (the melody she sings when Ursula is taking away her voice, not the one about the "treasures" in her "cavern"). Then, 90 minutes before my meeting, I get a phone call from my cousin Dianna… her car broke down while she was getting some stuff for her boss and she needed to get back to the hospital immediately. I called my uncles, my cousin; even my aunt and they were all “busy”. Hell, my aunt didn’t even bother to answer, so it was once again up to me to come to the rescue! I was PISSED! Instantly my bright Disney-esque morning started gathering clouds in the horizon. My mom offered to come with me so I would clam down. As I was walking out the door my Grandma goes… “Why don’t you wear something other than those flip-flops?” (clue #2). I said bye and shut the door.

I waited in the car for about 5 minutes and started honking the horn for my mother to hurry up, she came down with a back pack and when I asked her what the hell that was for she couldn’t give me a straight answer (clue #3), I was so frustrated I didn’t even care at that point. The whole drive from my house to Aventura I was bitching about how people only call me when they need me, how today was an important day for me, how I better not be late or they will ALL have hell to pay, etc… then I remembered that the week before Dianna had been in a minor car accident and she had a rental… why wasn’t the rental company picking her up and resolving this issue, this made me even more frustrated! About halfway there, my phone rings and it turned out to be my brother, I was so happy to hear from him that my mood instantly lit up. I noticed my mom was being kind of cryptic… I guess she wanted to tell him but obviously couldn’t and since we didn’t know when we would hear from him again… it was a bitter sweet moment for her. As soon as my Ma hangs up my cell, my aunt calls me and says… “Hey, don’t forget to put on some lipstick.” (Clue #4) That was the least of my worries at that point.

We finally make it to the Fresh Market and my mother’s cell rings; it was “Dianna” telling her to come inside for a bite to eat. Um… wasn’t this bitch in a rush? We get inside and my mother starts wondering aimlessly around the store, as if this was her first time off the farm and into the big city… so I kept walking behind her saying things like, “MA! What is wrong with you? Now is not the time!” all while scoping the store for Dianna. Once I went around the third time I called her and this is how the conversation went down:

Dianna: Hello?
Caro: Dude, where the “F” are you?
Dianna: (Silence)
Caro: HELLLLOOOO?
Dianna: Uh… where are you?
Caro: I’m in the store… Where are YOU?
Dianna: By the pharmacy (CLICK)

Yes, that trollop just went ahead and hung up on me! There is no Pharmacy at Fresh Market (Clue #5), so I went to the cashier and asked where there was a pharmacy in that shopping center, she looked at me like I was crazy. At this point my mom had made her way to the candy section of the store. I saw her from where I was standing, which was by the front door, so I started gesturing for us to leave and she just stood there by a girl with a sample tray full of candy. As if she had NEVER in her life seen free candy… it was so odd. She kept waving for me to come over while I kept madly gesturing NO! This exchange continued for about a minute until I finally went over. I stood there looking at her and said hi to the candy girl (who turned out to be Geraldine), then my mom goes “Coje” which means “take some” in Spanish... the funny thing is you can actually hear her saying it on the show!!! So I finally gave in and took a candy sample and that’s when Charles and the crew ambushed me.

I have to tell you, it was such an overwhelming moment! Not only did I know this was one of those moments where your life is about to change, and I mean really change, because we are constantly changing and evolving, but those are very subtle changes. This was one of these life altering moments, a moment where I knew there was going to be a before and an after, so while Charles was talking… I was playing back everything that had happened that morning, the whole sequence of events that had taken place in order for me to end up at that store, and at that moment I felt something I had never felt before, overwhelming love. I realized how elaborate the plan had been, how they were all in on it and how they each did their part to make sure I was surprised. How my Ma had to put so many pieces into play in order to fool me, which isn’t an easy task. How she had probably called my cousin Jules to get my best friend Jesus’ number so he could tell her where that Fresh Market was. How Jesus’ had called his niece (and my friend) Ani so she could give my Ma the directions, because Ani’s just better at that (that’s something Jesus would say). How Dianna had to think on her feet, even though I probably made her nervous. How my Grandmother wanted me to wear nicer shoes, so I would look my best. How my aunt didn’t want me to look pale on T.V., just in case the love of my life happened to watch the show. But most importantly, how had he called 20 minutes earlier, my Ma would’ve been able to share our joy with my brother.

So, yes for those of you who have written to me and told me how genuine my reaction seemed… it’s because it was! I was so surprised. I never thought I would be caught off guard… they all did a great job. I get teary eyed remembering it. Such an amazing moment in my life!!!

Next blog: #2 The “TWAlet” paper debacle of 2008. Patsy, Jesus and I gorge on candy.