I sometimes wonder what my mother would think of the house we live in. When we came to the mainland my mom had sold her small house to afford the airfare. We moved into a tenement apartment and lived there for 16 years. When My husband & I bought a house in Queens Mom & Dad lived with us. Together we raised our kids. It was not always easy but really rewarding. Four adults ( 2 generations) raising 4 kids works really well. At least it did for us.
Now my son and lovely daughter-in-law are doing the same thing. Hope it works out half as well this time. However, the size of the houses are very different as well as the size of the property. You could fit 5 of our old house in the space of our property. Not to mention the number of rooms and bathrooms in this house. My Mom would be so very proud of all 4 of her grandsons. I know I am.
Which leads me to my grandparents. My grandmothers could not be more different. One was passive aggressive and outlived her husband. Not a mean feat for a woman who had 10 children in the early 20th century. The other was a strong willed woman who RULED her family, even as she was dying from T.B. She died a few months before I was born.
My grandfathers were also very different men. I only knew my mothers dad as my paternal grandfather died 6 months after I was born. However I have heard plenty about him. He was handsome, well read, and catnip to the ladies. My poor grandmother how she could put up with such a womanizer? I most likely would have killed him. I would get off IF I picked a jury of wronged husbands. He was sad he didn’t get to name me Marina. A name from one of his favorite books-War & Peace. My grandma said nonsense! That was the name of his Russian girlfriend in San Juan. Who knows? We can’t ask at this late date.
My dad was really close to him as they went together on my Abuelo Luis’ job. He was an inspector of public works until he became ill. He then would read poetry to the ladies who worked in the tobacco factory in our town. This made a bit of money to supplement his state pension. It also gave him the company of much younger women. No, not for that, for the delight in their company. He really liked women as persons. I guess that was the secret to his success with them.
My Mom’s dad was very different. He was married 3 times, and faithful to each wife. I had an uncle who I only knew in pictures. A dead ringer for my abuelo. My aunt Ileana is 3 years younger than I am and we get along great. Cesario was a poet and racontour loved to have poetry competitions with his friends over a few drinks. As he grew older he kind of became every kids grandpop. Evey kid in the town knew him and liked him. Whenever we met it was hugs and kises all around. I was his first grandchild and that was special to him. I just wish we saw each other more often.
It didn’t hurt that my mom was the only one of his children to stand up to him. She would argue with him to see who would give in first. Lord only knows who would win. There are too many tales of those two arguing about this or that to sort it out, but they loved to argue with each other. Interestingly enough Mom was meek as a lamb with her mother. That must have been one strong woman.