Dear Reader,
Every year I am amazed at the quality of the writing entries I receive for the Write a DearReader Contest. It’s difficult to choose just three winners, so I choose Honorable Mentions as well. Today’s Honorable Mention was written by Fatima Villa. Thank you so much Fatima for sharing your story with us.
During the summer before my senior year of high school, my paternal grandpa died suddenly and I remember feeling like I missed out on so much. I can tell you a handful of things about him, like how he drove a red truck and how he always made sure to go to mass on Sundays. I can vaguely remember his voice and how he wore a white sombrero. I remember how one time, there was a new barn cat, a small gray kitten with blue eyes, and how I brilliantly named her Whiskey as a cutesy version of Whiskers. He smiled, letting Whiskey keep the name, without telling me that whiskey was actually an alcoholic beverage and not a cute word for whiskers.
On occasion, my mom turns on old home videos of our trips to Mexico and I smile when I see him. He was always walking around with his grandchildren, making us all feel loved. My brother was the one who initially was enamored by everything my abuelito did. In moments my mom captured, you can see my brother following my abuelito to feed the cows. My abuelito is whistling and my brother, probably 4 at most, is trying his hardest to whistle too, puffing up his cheeks and blowing without a sound. The static on the tape flashes the scene forward to a kindergarten award ceremony. My brother is in his school uniform and holding a microphone. “When I grow up, I want to be a farmer just like my abuelito,” he beams and then passes the microphone to the girl next to him.
I’m going through pictures on a flash drive and I see this picture of my abuelita ready to hit a piñata. My mom tells me that my brother was in his “exigente” phase, demanding to be the only one to hit the piñata. “Let him hit the piñata,” my abuelito requested to everyone. My mom smiles, explaining how she was glad he indulged my brother but should’ve honestly ignored my brother’s requests a little, but he just loved his family so much that even the brattiest grandkid to him was still a beloved angel.
Every trip we made, my dad always brought gifts for the family, but especially for my grandparents. My dad once brought him a store bought pie and my mom made him a box cake. My dad announced to him in the most serious voice he could that he had spent the day before baking that pie. My abuelito laughed and said, “Mijo, I know you didn’t bake this pie. If you told me Rebe made this, I would’ve believed you but you definitely didn’t make this.” In the end, he liked the box cake more.
My sister doesn’t have any memories of our abuelito because she was just a baby during our last trip. I don’t think there’s even that many home videos from that trip, but I remember how he was happy to just meet her even though she was just a little potato sack of a human being.
When my abuelita visited us for the first time after my abuelito passed away, I remember her telling my mom how if she ever felt lonely without my abuelito at night, she would take a large body pillow and hug it tightly. She gifted us a horseshoe from my abuelito’s favorite horse and my mom hung it above our front door. “It’s so he can always feel welcome here,” she explained. I wish that we visited his ranch in Mexico more. I wish my memories of him weren’t just from when I was still a little girl. I wish he was still with us because I don’t think I ever appreciated him properly. I didn’t get to say goodbye to him, no last kiss on the cheek or hug.
Abuelito Luis, te queremos mucho y te extrañamos cada día.
– Fatima Villa, Honorable Mention, 2022 Write a DearReader Contest
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
* This month's Penguin Classics is Metamorphosis by Ovid, a sensuous and witty poem in an accessible translation by David Raeburn. I have a copy of the book to share with a lucky reader, so start reading and enter for your chance to win.
Comments