my anda

today is the birthday of my late maternal grandmother, Avila Salem Rarela.  she passed away at 89 and would have been 104 today.

we lived very near her place and i saw her practically everyday.  i have so many fond (and funny) memories with her.

she loved movies and i grew up being her movie date.  i think i've watched enough movies to last me a lifetime because of her.  she's a dolphy fan, btw.

she had a regular supply of magazines (kislap, MOD, etc.) and i somehow honed my reading on them.  i remember i was reading liwayway (haha, ancient!) and there was 'george' and i still didn't know how to read it that time so i pronounced it as a three-syllable ge-or-ge.  someone corrected me and that is my first memory of being acquainted with george, hehe.

i was her sleeping companion whenever my grandpa slept over in the province.  when i was younger we'd sleep side by side on her bed.  when i got a little bigger, i slept on a bed beside hers.  then when i was already grown up, i'd sleep upstairs while she stayed downstairs.  leveling up with age...  ; )

i was her attentive listener.  she'd tell the same stories over and over again and i'd ask the same questions over and over again, haha.

i was her eager food taster and human sink-incinerator.  over-eager one time, i fully-consumed what i didn't know was something intended for arriving guests, aw!

i was her, uhm, negligent escort in las vegas.  i'm not really much for casinos and i somehow failed to keep an eye on her while she wandered away from machine to machine.  my mom, my brother, my uncle, my aunt and i were already on the verge of panic looking for her and thank god she found us, hehe.  she got a little scared, too, walking all around the noisy place looking for her companions but she recovered easily and was again joyfully dropping her coins (yup, that time you still used real coins) in the slots in no time...  ; )

i, together with my brother, was also her 'heater' one time.  we were at niagara falls and it was sooo cold so my brother and i walked really close to her to protect her from the cold (think open-the-basket cum group hug.  it must have looked like we were holding her hostage, hehe).  we even jogged around her hoping to give her some body heat, haha.

she liked to tease me about my hour-long showers.  she says i shampoo every single and littlest strand of hair on my body that's why i take so long.

she gets so amused whenever i squeal each time i see her smooth and flawless knees.  i have scars on my left knee yet i'm always in shorts while she was always in this calf-length dresses.  it was always a delight and a surprise for me to get a glimpse of her rarely-seen knees.

she liked this former boyfriend of mine and kept on asking about him long after we broke up.  i think she missed him more than i did, hehe.

come to think of it, all those times we spent together, i don't have a single memory of her scolding me ever.  i dunno whether i was just so good or she was just really patient.  or maybe i am just forgetful?  ; p

anyway, remembering my dear anda with much love and prayers...  <3<3<3