when my mom finally passed it wasn't a surprise, it was a welcome relief, one that took eight years to arrive. still, at the funeral, the grief took over and my sister and i were choking in our tears. neither of us could read the story we prepared to share with friends and family that day. curtis had to step in and read it for us. to remember mom on her birthday, i dug that farewell tribute up to share today.
everyone has a set of best loved stories and we wanted to
share one of our favorites about mom with you. we’re sure that some of you are familiar with this one.
often times our mom, who was ever the disciplinarian, would
use her life stories as tools to teach us valuable lessons. this story is about mom, who was a willful
child raised by her grandmother (aka lola inay).
let me begin by saying that lola inay was a strict
disciplinarian and woman to contend with. lola inay had long established a set of rules, and one of them was that
the children in the house were not allowed to visit the neighbors without her
express permission. permission was not
always granted, especially when one’s chores were not done. mom, the youngest of the many children in the
house, decided all on her own that she was special and did not need permission -
and besides that, she was sure that she could sneak away for a couple of hours
and no one would ever even notice. that
day, she snuck over to the next door neighbor’s house where there was a little
girl of the same age to play with. it
wasn’t until a few hours later that she heard lola inay yelling for her from
the other side of the shared wall. in a
panic, she hurried towards the wall and peeked over. lo and behold, there was lola inay! she was too close for her to sneak back home
and not get caught, but she could hear the insisting tone in lola inay’s voice
that meant she was upset. and when lola inay was upset, you had better believe that it was the end of the world. she HAD
to try anyway. she started around and
attempted to enter the house from behind, but then lola inay turned around and
they made eye contact. oh god! it was a deer in the headlights moment… mom took one look at lola inay, quickly spun on
her heels and started running the other way. lola inay was right behind her. mom ran towards town, through the market and eventually
ended up circling the entire
neighborhood in an attempt to lose lola inay.
Please remember that this is her grandmother
– but the woman was known in town as a woman of steel and quite the
legend. mom realized that she was losing
ground and decided to head home. needless to say she was punished for her naughtiness. it was a terrible punishment, but one that
mom shared with us. she only wanted us to know that we would not have to suffer
similar consequences – provided that we choose not to disobey her house rules,
which she had modified to fit her own style of parenting. {we smile}
that willful child grew up to be a headstrong woman of great
character. she had an atrocious temper
and a dynamite sense of humor. she was
your best friend and your favorite shopping buddy. even in the last eight years when the
pinnacle of life was not at its best, you could still see that spark that was mila, in her eyes. we love her and we’ll
greatly miss her. this is only one of
many favorite mila stories and we shall always remember her since we never tire
of swapping mila stories with friends and family.
mom was born on dec 4, 1945 and passed away on july 4, 2006. my sister's daughter yuki was born six years later on dec 4, 2012 and the celebration of life continues with the new generation of willful females in our family
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. HAPPY BIRTHDAY YUKI!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. HAPPY BIRTHDAY YUKI!
