Stories Untold

This past weekend, Kate and I went up to La Union to meet with one of the grand old matriarchs of my Dad's side of the family. We enjoyed our lunch, dinner and breakfast with her a great deal. We did not lack food (at least 5 viands per meal [including breakfast] plus dessert).

It struck me how many stories will be lost to time when she finally joins the rest of the clan that has passed on.

She mentioned how she lived in Zamboanga City for 4 years, and how one of her sons was born there (earning him the nickname "morito"). Why did she go there? Perhaps to get away from her mother, she says. Now, it's hard for me to believe that this 80-year old serenely smiling woman could have harbored difficulties that would have kept her from her mother... but I didn't know the full story, and we were all young once.

She still works at the bank she helped start, clocking in early in the morning and then again after lunch at around 2 pm. She's been working there for 50 years - but she prefers working over staying home!

I remember helping her down from her van a few years ago, and she told me then "I'm not so old that you need to help me walk." That made it difficult for me to see her in the wheelchair most of the time we were there.

She has diabetes, and the whole family has tried to control what she eats... but as she puts it... she's 80! She's not afraid of "graduating" to the next life.

When we were leaving, she told me that I reminded her of my Lola Iday who was "beautiful both in the face and in her character". I've always thought so, but coming from someone who was, in all the ways that matter, her sister, I know it to be truth.

She urged us to come back often (and soon). Perhaps we'll take a few more people with us then too.