The past is
not so distant...the present is an assurance...the future albeit a dream
is hope fulfilled
...when the
generations meet.
My mom’s family was closely knitted. Her siblings were
my parents too. My mom must have been the apple of
their eyes because her family took care of all her children. Their home served as
our home and ours was theirs too.
It is said that home is the “place
where we are loved the best but grumbled the most”. I only experienced the
first condition but never the
latter with my auntie Prina who was seventeen years my senior. Now the only survivor of my mom’s seven
siblings. She is 85 years old.
...the
past is not so distant
It was a luxury to send
a child to college in the fifties but my aunt from a poor family was a “colegiala”, a spanish term for a
college student. Every time she would go to her boarding
school she always dropped by the house to see if mother needed help. She would
fix my hair, my things and send me off to my grade one class. I had a secret admiration for her. She was my role
model because whatever she wore
would always fit her to a T. One of the best dressed women of her time, my aunt
has a great influence on my grooming. I
was always interested about
her that I never blinked an eyelash
every time grandma talked about
her.
Who would ever thought that this prim and proper lady during the second world war survived the ordeal of hibernating for weeks inside a fox hole covered
by twigs and leaves? At mealtime a faithful brother would just pull a rope to
signal that food will be slowly dropped inside. Why? I asked. Because the Japs ran amuck when they knew they
were about to be defeated by American soldiers that they vent their anger on
poor Filipinos. So wherever they went they killed poor
farmers, raped the girls, made
pregnant women’s belly as fulcrum for their seesaw, grabbed babies and threw them upward as their flaming bayonets waited
for the babies’ descent. That was a horrible event that
they hid my teenage aunt inside that hole.
This experience made her strong, courageous and unruffled in the
face of uncertainty. At that
period, girls were not meant to do boys’ jobs but she did. Once she was stung by a hungry bee, she followed with her gaze where the bee was going. Then she saw a beehive on top of the coconut tree where the bee
entered. She cursed loudly, got dried twigs, lighted them and climbed the tree like a pro. The bees hurriedly left
their beehive, not because of the fire but because of my
aunt’s wrath.
She finished her course through the support of my grandparents and a little help from mother too. Then
she found her way to the capital city of the Philippines. I was in grade three when I started writing her letters
as mother prodded me to do so. She was generous with her praises about my new
found literary skill which made me think I was already so good that I wrote
more.
Then she married a
Colonel of the American Army and they resided in the US. Our
communication never stopped. She was still an understanding aunt who never forgot what my
siblings and I needed. We always
think of the good life she was enjoying as gleaned from her pictures that my siblings vowed to experience such life too. It
was that positivity in her which my siblings and I were not aware had already been rooted in us.
...the
present is an assurance
Generations pass like leaves
that fall from the tree. Each season new life blossoms and grows benefitting
from the strength and
experience of those who went
before - Heide Swapp
My mother encouraged me not to give up on my studies whatever the odds. It seemed there was
no other role model she could think of but her sister. My
aunt’s experiences and her continued pieces of advice served
as guide on my daily walk with life. With a very strong support from
my parents and the spirituality they have impressed on me it seemed that what I aimed for had been so easy to
reach. There were many traits and
ways in common with my aunt and I, my uncles told me that. I got her height,
her poise and the husky tone of
voice. I utilized mine to great advantage and it added to a new dimension in my career.
I got married and raised
a family but my aunt
never tired of communicating.
Sometimes through my mom and
oftentimes directly to me until the day my mother died.
Heirlooms we don’t have in our family but stories we got plenty - Rose Cherin
This time our topic
shifted to my family especially my only girl whom she knew was the pet of my mother among her
grandchildren. She grew up to be a dainty and sweet lady and I always
supplied my aunt with pictures of
my daughter during the time facebook was not yet the “in” thing. She was so feminine and partly dependent
that I never thought she would venture to places far from home.
But the strength of character from generations which has slept within her soon awakened and she was able to
migrate her family to a European
country to the delight of my aunt.
...the future albeit a dream is hope realized
My dream of stepping on this historical land of the United Kingdom was realized when
my daughter invited her father and me for a visit at the time she would be giving
birth to a third child. We all
expected that we would have a girl
in the family through my daughter. It was an amazingly exciting experience when
my grandson broke the news at
midnight that his mom gave birth to a baby girl. We went to the hospital early in the morning and found my
daughter and the baby girl doing
just fine. Cameras flashed right and left and in a second her
pictures occupied the facebook page. My relatives and friends started to press like and a new face book celebrity
was born!
This wee creature must
have a magic of pulling her roots to visit her. My sister from Italy came, one
from London followed but the most surprising visit of all was that of my aunt from Florida who ably came with a relative to meet us.
She told me, she never thought all her life I could travel that far. It was a nostalgic meeting. My daughter spread out a wide mattress
in the living room for everyone to sleep on for the night but instead we talked, laughed
until the wee hours of the morning. My aunt said, this was how my grandmother and her
relatives were doing while
visiting when she was young and
how she hated it because it disturbed her sleep.
As she excitedly hold my granddaughter I saw a mirage of my mom
holding the baby. She called her Princess Caitlin, her little Irish girl who will be a princess someday.
Her presence showed me how a long journey we have made and yet remained unscathed until the day we met. She celebrated her birthday with us and promised that if God
would grant her another five years of a productive life she would invite us to Florida, all expenses paid to celebrate her 90th
birthday.
My granddaughter is now
assured with the help of God that the roots she came from would see her through all difficulties as she makes her own life under the sun. This was the prayer for this wee creature...when the four generations met.
