My Roots... Nana & Tata

I have been meaning to write this story for sometime. The story of my life with my maternal grandparents, my Mama's parents. My Tata's real name is Nicasio but we also call him Tata Casio. I call my grandmother Nana. Her real name is Juana and her other name is Nana Aning.

Here is a photo of my Nana on my recent visit:

Isn't she beautiful?

My Nana told me a story.
When I was only a few weeks old. Both her and Tata took me from my mom because she needed to finish college. They live on another island. They both took care of me till I had to move back to the main land to attend school.

Every summer break I would go home with my grandparents. I love coming to my grandparents even if they didn't have a lot of money, there were plenty of food on the table. I remember one of my summer visits, my Tata brought me to the farm, we had a beautiful farm and bountiful harvest. All sorts of green crops, fruit trees, corn field, and even peanuts. It was really fun spending time with my Nana shelling some corns. She also fried the corn seeds. The funny thing is, we were talking about it but she didn't know it was called "popcorn".

Photos were taken during my 2014 visit;

On the farm, we had a good size "bahay kubo" (nipa hut) a nice looking one. The roof was made of mangrove swamps and the floor was solid wood hand crafted by my Tata and also the rest of the hut, it was built pretty strong.

My Tata was the most hardworking man, I've ever known existed. He was always busy and never takes a day off. If he's not working on the farm, he goes fishing. Most of the time he would have a lot of fresh catch. Half he sold to the other villagers so he makes a little profit and the rest are for us to share on the table.

One night, everyone else was at the church. Tata and I were sitting on the balcony, he was drinking a small bottle of sprite and I was eating a small thing I bought from the sari-sari store. Most of the time I didn't hear him talk. He was staring off into the distance and I was just observing him. And I remember I asked him why I haven't seen him pray or even go to the church. He took his gaze towards my direction and smiled at me. He had the most sincere smile I ever seen. He told me he didn't have to go to the church, he'll just look up and he will be heard. I didn't understand what he was trying to imply. But it matter to me because he was a very humble and thinks very little for himself.

On the other hand, my Nana is very religious and traditional. She taught me how to pray and most of the time she took me the to church to attend the mass. I can't say I am religious still, but I am proud and thankful of my Nana for teaching good morals. I learned a lot of things from her. How to do the house chores, to harvest some crops and clean the fish. She also showed me how to make myself always look pretty and neat. She was the first one to welcome me into womanhood and that means a lot to me. I think it's a burst of pride for everyone when they reach adulthood. Of all the people in my family, she's the only one whom I can share my feelings. She knows everything that I've been through.

We have had disagreements but we have always that special relationship. Her and Tata are the perfect match. She is strict but yet a loving wife and my Tata has the tendered heart. They're both very caring people, they even took care some of my other cousins when they were babies too. My grandparents home was like a nursery.

With my Nana & little cousins who live with her

You're probably wondering where is a photo of my Tata. Sadly he passed away when I was in 6th grade. ='( And I only had two photos of my him. One is a photograph of him with my mama and our relatives. The other one is his 2x2 photo. But I after the typhoon Haiyan, it was nowhere to be found. ='(

My Tata meant the world to me. His death has been the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with. He was my first FATHER. He was the most nicest person to me! His memory will remain in my heart forever.

Nana & her radio.

It has been a year since our last meeting. I was busy traveling and minding my own personal life. I went home a few weeks ago to visit my Nana after she suffered a stroke. I was relieved to see her doing well. She walks around the house back and forth, as her exercise routine. She eats mostly veggies and fish. At age 84, I would say she is strong and pretty healthy.

She said this is the best gift she ever received for a long time. =)

I bought her this radio before for very cheap at 250 pesos ($4.95). She was very happy, I can't explain the happiness I saw on her face. She wanted the radio for a long time. I looked past her. I didn't want to breakdown in front of her because we both had been emotional since my visit. My emotions ranged from extreme guilt to sadness and then to anger to sorrow. I got very depressed. I didn't expect about her situation and she's been through a lot. I don't want to go that far. But I was much stronger these days, I held back my emotion and kept it inside of me. All I wanted to see from her is her beautiful smile.

My Nana carrying her solar light =)

We both had a great time sharing our happy stories. She told me about her childhood story, a very different childhood that she had, her family, relatives and friends. We had a wonderful time together alone. I realized how important to her the attention that I was giving her. From now on, I promised to myself and I will take care of. We both got very emotional on my last day of the visit. But I promised her that I will visit again soon.

Old photo: Nana and I woke up like this =D

Now is the time for me to take care of her just like the way she and Tata took care of me when I was Little. Even though I live in the city, I call home every now and then, to check how she is doing and make sure she's eating enough for her health.

To all steemians who read the short story above, I thank you for taking your time. I really appreciate it with all my heart.

I'll give you steemians an update what will happen on my next visit with Nana.

Love you all!
Xoxo,Gilaine