Since yesterday, I've been talking to some cousins who live near the beach about getting together now that Minino and Mireyita are coming... I was hit like a strong wave with intense memories of my grandmother Margarita... I must have been about six years old, she was maybe sixty-five... Cousin Gaitán surely remembers... She lived on Chile Street, near the soap factory? I can still smell the soap in my mind... About three blocks from where Aunt Silvia de Lupe's houses were, Concha Loor lived on the corner...
And during the Sierra holidays, I would come with my mom to spend three months in Guayaquil on vacation, and we would arrive at my grandmother Margarita's house, who always lived with my uncle Raúl, who never married... My grandmother went out every afternoon to visit, and if she stayed, it was because that day's coffee was at her house. Once a week, she visited her sisters, cousins, and nieces, and she took me with her to have coffee with fried cassava bread or green empanadas, which was typical of a Manabita home.
My grandmother was always close to her sisters and cousins.
They saw each other every week and talked on the phone every day, as part of their daily routine... and it was... I remember that I loved going to visit Aunt Guillermina, her first cousin and best friend... My grandmother accompanied her until the end... I liked going to Vicenta's, who had little medals as gifts and where they ate green empanadas and fried cassava bread with coffee... where Aspasia... her co-mother-in-law, Aunt Blanca's mother-in-law, also visited each other all the time.
I don't remember Aunt Angelita. I think she had already passed away when I was a girl, but she always talked about Angelita this and Angelita that. They say she was the beauty of the family...
Aunt Panchita, her sister and mother of the Robles Ciceron family, Aidé and Raul would come to stay with her for a few days, or sometimes we would go to Portoviejo in Uncle Eduardo Carrión's truck with my Aunt Blanca, and we would arrive at Uncle Cicerón Robles' house, where he lived with Aunt María, who was single, and Aidé with her children Luiggi and Gino.... Those visits were a party with family invitations to lunches and coffees and strange relatives like Ecuador Solorzano...
Grandmother also loved her nieces. Vicenta was her favorite, and there were also Gloria Velásquez, Nila, and Luzmila
who were also very close to her. She would accompany them to eat fried cassava bread
with coffee at Pucha and the Dunns' house... those things are so distant but still alive in my mind.
Her favorite nephew was Gato Enano, Olmedo Velásquez, the son of her beloved brother, and I remember... Arcadio and Estrella Loor also visited her every week as a ritual.
There were always relatives at my grandmother's house; it was not an exception, it was normal. Quique Pichuza, Magucha, and Coco,
her Rendon grandchildren whom she raised, then Hectitor lived there, and I remember Sara Icaza, her great friend who came to lunch every day because she worked at the municipality... the whole family passed through her house as part of the life of that house.
I was forgetting Aunt Aidé, a close friend of my mother's... who came to V M Rendón's house on holidays and vacations... Vicenta lived on the same block... two buildings away were Solón, Gaitan, Alexandra, Sol, and Marcia... Ballenita during the season... Paco Loor, Vicenta's brother, also lived nearby... we were all connected by real affection, not social media.
All these memories came to me at once like a warm light,
and I felt joy, joy at having lived that part of my history,
joy at knowing that I was able to experience that invisible network called family that naturally sustained us.
And now that we are no longer children, I wonder
why our generation is different, or could it be that we became more involved in our own history and family became a distant reference?
In my case, I chose to live without family interference.
My mother was strict, and I was free... to fall and get back up.
Lucho, Iván, and Piti were the cousins with whom I always had a close connection in my adult years.
But now that we are old, some of us have become hermits, so it's incredible that we can have cousin reunions to remember our grandmothers.
Today everything is different. We live connected by social media and cell phones. We've lost the habit of visiting someone just to talk... since smoking was banned... and smartphones appeared, people no longer want to get together because they can send an audio message or click “like”... and without realizing it, something has been lost.
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Desde ayer que estuve hablando con algunos primos de los que vivimos cerca de la playa para reunirnos ahora que vienen Minino y Mireyita ...me vino como una ola fuerte un recuerdos intensos de mi abuela Margarita... yo tendría unos seis años ella tal vez sesenta y cinco ... el primo Gaitán seguro se acuerda... vivía en la calle Chile, cerca de la fábrica de Jabón? tengo el olor del jabón en mi mente aún... a unas tres cuadras de donde estaban las casas de la tía Silvia de Lupe en la esquina vivía Concha Loor ..
En las vacaciones de la Sierra venia con mi mamá a pasar los 3 meses, en Guayaquil de vacaciones y llegábamos donde mi abuela Margarita que siempre vivió con mi tío Raúl que nunca se casó ... mi abuela salía todas las tardes a visitar y si se quedaba era porque ese día el café era en su casa una vez por semana visitaba a sus hermanas, primas y sobrinas y me llevaba con ella a tomar café con pan de yuca frito o empanadas de verde, que era lo típico de una casa manabita.
Mi abuela siempre fue íntima de sus hermanas y de sus primas
se veían todas las semanas y hablaban todos los días por teléfono, como rutina diaria...y lo era... recuerdo que me encantaba ir donde la tía Guillermina su prima hermana y su mejor amiga.... mi abuela la acompañó hasta el final ... me gustaba ir donde Vicenta, que tenía medallitas de regalo y se comían empanadas de verde y pan de yuca frito con cafe ... donde Aspasia... su consuegra, suegra de la tia Blanca, también se visitaban siempre.
A la Tia Angelita no la recuerdo, creo que ya había fallecido cuando yo era chica, pero todo el tiempo hablaba de Angelita esto y Angelita aquello, dicen que fue la belleza de la familia,...
La tía Panchita su hermana y mamá de los Robles Cicerón, Aidé y Raul venía a quedarse unos días con ella o a veces íbamos a Portoviejo en la camioneta del tío Eduardo Carrión con mi tía Blanca y llegábamos a la casa del tío Cicerón Robles y con él vivía la tía María que era soltera y Aidé con sus hijos Luiggi y Gino .... esas visitas eran una fiesta con invitaciones familiares a almuerzos y cafés y parientes raros como Ecuador Solorzano...
La abuela también amó a sus sobrinas, Vicenta era su engreída y también estaban Gloria Velásquez , Nila y Luzmila
muy cercanas también la acompañaba a comer pan de yuca frito
con café donde Pucha y los Dunn... esas cosas tan lejanas pero que siguen vivas en la mente.
Su sobrino engreído fué Gato Enano, Olmedo Velásquez hijo de su hermano querido y. me acuerdo de ... Arcadio y Estrella Loor también la visitaban cada semana como un rito.
En la casa de mi abuela siempre hubo familiares, no era una excepción, era lo normal Quique Pichuza, Magucha y Coco
sus nietos Rendon criados por ella, después vivió Hectitor y recuerso a Sara Icaza su gran amiga que llegaba a almorzar todos los días porque trabajaba en el Municipio ... toda la familia pasaba por su casa como parte de la vida de esa casa
Me estaba olvidando de la tía Aidé, íntima de mi mamá... que venía en los feriados y vacaciones a la casa de V M Rendón...en la misma cuadra vivía Vicenta...dos edificios más allá Solón, Gaitan, Alexandra, Sol y Marcia ... Ballenita en la temporada ... Paco Loor hermano de Vicenta, tambien vivia cerca ...todos estabamos conectado por afectos reales no por redes sociales
todos estos recuerdos me llegaron de golpe como una luz tibia
y me dio alegría alegría de haber vivido esa parte de mi historia
alegría de saber que sí pude conocer esa red invisible llamada familia que nos sostenía naturalmente.
y me pregunto ahora que ya no somos niños
por qué nuestra generación es diferente o será que nos metimos más en nuestra propia historia y familia se volvió una referencia lejana?
En mi caso, elegí vivir sin interferencias familiares
mi madre era estricta y yo fui libre ... para caer y levantarme.
Lucho e Iván y la Piti fueron los primos con quienes siempre tuve una conexión cercana en mis años adultos
pero ahora que estamos viejos, nos hemos hecho solitarios solo conectados tecnológicamente a por eso es increíble que podamos hacer reuniones de primos para recordar a nuestras abuelas.
Hoy todo es distinto, vivimos conectados por redes sociales y por el celular se perdió el hábito de visitar de ir a ver a alguien solo para conversar .... desde que se prohibió fumar... y aparecieron los smartphones la gente ya no quiere reunirse porque puede mandar un audio o poner un me gusta .... y sin darnos cuenta algo se ha perdido.