WHEN THE FOUR GENERATIONS MET

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 90^th 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.