It must have been about 1988 when our young blond daughter Aviva had been chosen for the role of the Virgin Mary in the holiday pageant of San Jose, her daycare school.
We were living in Chelsea, a nice neighborhood in New York City. We got an apartment in the building designated for Seminary students because Carolyn worked for the Episcopal Church.
When Aviva let us know that she would be the Virgin Mary I was most excited. Catholic Mexican rumor had it that if you had a sibling or someone in the family become a priest or a nun, this would help you get through the pearly gates. Knowing I would need a lot of help given all the commandments that I had broken more than once, I now had a chance with Aviva being Mary.
Of course, we were proud parents seeing our blond-haired smart, and lovely child on stage with the many dark-skinned students with dark hair. There were many Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Afro-American students in the school.
After the performance, we stood with Aviva as the teachers praised her and the other students, while I was thinking: Watch out Heaven, here I come!!
12 months later we were excited about the upcoming Christmas pageant and about Aviva once again having a leading role. But then, she surprised us one afternoon, when she got home from school saying: “They want me to be the Virgin, and I don’t want to do it”, she exclaimed.
“Why not” I demanded; “you did that role so well last year”
“They just want me to do it because I have blond hair”, she firmly stated.
“Well, what’s wrong with that?” I questioned.
“Papa, there are other students who have dark skin who really want to be the Virgin”, she explained.
“Then you don’t want to be in the pageant?” inquired her mother.
“I do want to be in the Play, but I want to be a shepherd”.
Now I was worried that my door to heaven was quickly closing.
“Ok”, her mother said. “You tell the teacher that you want to be a shepherd and that your parents think that you will be a good shepherd.”
Aviva was so happy with our decision and was smiling as she hugged her mother.
Two weeks later we went to see the Christmas pageant and saw the most beautiful dark-skinned Virgin Mary with her proud parents sitting in the front row. The shepherds were also wonderful and because of the headdress, you could not see the blond hair of one of the shepherds.
After the presentation, we hugged Aviva hard, and she introduced us to the kindest Virgin Mary. And now, I love all the shepherds wherever they come from.
