sit on a park bench and look at the people passing by, without being accosted for autographs or photographs. In this city of millions, I was anonymous. And that simple life, enjoying and noticing simple things like the change of seasons, allowed me to find the inner peace that I had lost. I reconnected with the dreams and fantasies of my youth, and I still believed in making all my dreams come true.
The silence allowed me to think of the future and genuinely ask myself what I really wanted to do. One possibility was to study acting at New York University, but I didn’t know if I wanted to go back to the stage. Show business was still a source of mixed emotions, and one day I told my mother I wanted to study computer science. She, of course, immediately said, “Son, please don’t do that.”
I felt angry that she was not going to support what I wanted to do, so I responded: “Mami, I’m telling you that I want to study, which is what all moms want for their kids. And you are telling me you don’t want me to? How is that possible?”
“Son,” she said, “you may not realize it yet, but it’s your destiny to be onstage.” She already knew what I was about even before I was willing to accept the truth.
“Mami, don’t even think about that!” I said to her. “I never want to go back to the stage. I’ve had enough.”
I was a bit annoyed, so we didn’t touch upon the subject again. A few months later she came to visit me and we went to see a concert at Radio City. Suddenly, in the middle of the show, I turned to say something to her, only to find her with tears streaming down her face. She was sobbing like a baby.
“Mami, what’s wrong?” I asked, worried.
“Son, you just can’t give up on show business,” she said. “That is your place, in center stage, in the spotlight.”
My mother’s words stayed in my head. They affected me, of course, but not enough to make me change my mind. Now that I think about it, I never really sought out the stage. It was the stage that found me. I did it because the opportunity came quite naturally. Like everything else in my life, it was as if destiny itself had laid it out before me, and the only thing I had to do was decide whether to take advantage of the opportunity. Now more than ever, after everything I have been through, I am convinced that this is how everything in life is, that this is its magic and its beauty. We all walk down a karmic path, a spiritual journey, and we each have the opportunity to decide what to do with our own lives. It is as if we are wandering through the desert and all of a sudden a horse appears. We can ignore it and keep walking, or we can get on that horse. And if we do mount it, we can just sit there and do nothing and let the horse drive us, or we can take control of the reins and gallop toward the place where we truly want to go. When an opportunity comes my way, I am the only one who decides to either take it or leave it.
Around that time, one of the opportunities that came my way arrived by telephone. I called a former colleague of mine in Mexico just to say hello and see how he was doing. While we were talking he invited me to spend a few days in Mexico City with him, and, since I had all the time in the world, I accepted the invitation without thinking twice. A few days later I boarded a flight toward another great city. The original idea was that I’d stay for just one week, but, just like when I arrived in New York, my plans changed drastically. . . .
A few nights after I arrived, I went to the theater to see a play that was produced by and featured three close friends, who happened to be great stars of the Mexican stage: Angelica Ortiz, Angelica Maria, and Angelica Vale. The play was called Mamá Ama el Rock (Mama Loves Rock) , a musical comedy. Besides the fact that I was excited to see my friends, I’ve always loved going to the theater and I never missed an opportunity to see a new show. It had been a long time since
The silence allowed me to think of the future and genuinely ask myself what I really wanted to do. One possibility was to study acting at New York University, but I didn’t know if I wanted to go back to the stage. Show business was still a source of mixed emotions, and one day I told my mother I wanted to study computer science. She, of course, immediately said, “Son, please don’t do that.”
I felt angry that she was not going to support what I wanted to do, so I responded: “Mami, I’m telling you that I want to study, which is what all moms want for their kids. And you are telling me you don’t want me to? How is that possible?”
“Son,” she said, “you may not realize it yet, but it’s your destiny to be onstage.” She already knew what I was about even before I was willing to accept the truth.
“Mami, don’t even think about that!” I said to her. “I never want to go back to the stage. I’ve had enough.”
I was a bit annoyed, so we didn’t touch upon the subject again. A few months later she came to visit me and we went to see a concert at Radio City. Suddenly, in the middle of the show, I turned to say something to her, only to find her with tears streaming down her face. She was sobbing like a baby.
“Mami, what’s wrong?” I asked, worried.
“Son, you just can’t give up on show business,” she said. “That is your place, in center stage, in the spotlight.”
My mother’s words stayed in my head. They affected me, of course, but not enough to make me change my mind. Now that I think about it, I never really sought out the stage. It was the stage that found me. I did it because the opportunity came quite naturally. Like everything else in my life, it was as if destiny itself had laid it out before me, and the only thing I had to do was decide whether to take advantage of the opportunity. Now more than ever, after everything I have been through, I am convinced that this is how everything in life is, that this is its magic and its beauty. We all walk down a karmic path, a spiritual journey, and we each have the opportunity to decide what to do with our own lives. It is as if we are wandering through the desert and all of a sudden a horse appears. We can ignore it and keep walking, or we can get on that horse. And if we do mount it, we can just sit there and do nothing and let the horse drive us, or we can take control of the reins and gallop toward the place where we truly want to go. When an opportunity comes my way, I am the only one who decides to either take it or leave it.
Around that time, one of the opportunities that came my way arrived by telephone. I called a former colleague of mine in Mexico just to say hello and see how he was doing. While we were talking he invited me to spend a few days in Mexico City with him, and, since I had all the time in the world, I accepted the invitation without thinking twice. A few days later I boarded a flight toward another great city. The original idea was that I’d stay for just one week, but, just like when I arrived in New York, my plans changed drastically. . . .
A few nights after I arrived, I went to the theater to see a play that was produced by and featured three close friends, who happened to be great stars of the Mexican stage: Angelica Ortiz, Angelica Maria, and Angelica Vale. The play was called Mamá Ama el Rock (Mama Loves Rock) , a musical comedy. Besides the fact that I was excited to see my friends, I’ve always loved going to the theater and I never missed an opportunity to see a new show. It had been a long time since
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