Good day everyone! I loved my grandparents. My granddad or Tatay as I called him, was a very clever and educated man. He read a lot and that was were I got this habit of reading. When I visited him, there would always be some books that he was reading or had read and he wanted to share some parts or quotes to me. I could also borrow them later. When I had some awards in school and needed to say a speech, he wrote it for me. We also did some crossword puzzles together. And as for my Granny or Nanay, I learned a lot from her – how to be strong and independent. She gave all her grandchildren (girls, mostly) the same piece of material and we ended up wearing the same dress, but with different designs. She had a small store at the end of her life and when we were there for a holiday, we helped her. She gave us some sweets or small present afterwards. She was an interesting cook, she would mix one weird ingredient to another and voila! a meal (not to everyone’s taste, but bless her soul, we tried to eat it).
Look at this black and white photo
Golden anniversary of our grandparents
We were all there, some not even born
Most of them were not with us anymore
And so with this in mind, my homage
Tatay was my idol, a great reader
Died of Parkinson’s disease, still reading
He put the meanings of the difficult words
Wrote them in pencils at the side of books
Nanay, still beautiful in her old age
Long wavy hair, deaf as a post
Her cooking, shall we say, creative
Mixing things we normally don’t mixed
Tia Carol and Tio Fred, both in heaven
Both doctors, humble as pies
Good storytellers, took life leisurely
Spoke the dialect I cannot understand
Tio Alex, bless his soul, only brother
Worked in Customs, good looking
Tia Ludy, still with us, still elegant
Brought the kids on her own
My Mum, my darling mother
Pregnant with our youngest brother
My Dad, I still miss him, now gone
Memories in our hearts and souls
All siblings and cousins
Now all with own families
We used to play together
Our own family portrait
(c) ladyleemanila 2016
my family, my flesh and blood
for that I can sing a ballad
we all take it in great humour
all different but similar
my father’s a chef, mum’s teacher
brother’s nurse, sister a babbler
our dog woofs, of course, our cat purrs
all different but similar
we are there when one’s in trouble
and we are rich in wise counsel
we like food, crackers and cheddar
all different but similar
my family, my flesh and blood
all different but similar
(c) ladyleemanila 2016
For: Generation
ladyleemanila 