Ciao!

Long delayed update

Yes, it's been quite a while since I've updated this blog. And really, that goes back to December. Work (mostly) has kept me from coding my new blog. And I've not wanted to update much here until that was finished. But that's no excuse. So, in the meantime, I'm posting here again. When the new blog (I'm calling it "Pronto*" is finished, I'll let everyone know.

Posted by Miguel at 05:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ciao, Abuelita

Less than three years after abuelito, my abuelita followed him to rest. I wish I could've been there at the end. Sam & Andy were able to fly down. But I called when I could, and I got to speak to here, joking about some of her old stories. And, in the end, I'm actually happy for her.

Blind for the better part of the last decade, her mind remained sharp as ever. And after her husband (abuelito) died, I can only imagine what it must've been like in the darkness, surrounded by all her vivid memories. But she was sharp until the end, even if leukemia sapped here strength away.

Our penultimate conversation, I joked with her about my memory of her in 1952. I'd always heard she served in the civil militia during Bolivia's revolution. I told her how the mental image of her (she's about as short as Doctor Ruth) with a long, heavy Mauser always made me smile. She laughed, then corrected me. She never knew why we all believed that. She'd only helped in the watch.

As a government employee, she was required to help in the civilian militia during those early days of the MNR's National Revolution. But it was the men who pulled guard duty; the women took turns serving them coffee. So she did her year of watch duty, serving coffee to the MNR's militia. And every night, abuelito would wait up for her, then walk her back home.

I suppose he's been waiting, as patient as abuelito could always be. And now he gets to walk her home.

Posted by Miguel at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)