Remembering Lola B

This is the time of year when you remember relatives dear to you. I thank God that though I have lost a couple of dear relatives in the past couple of years, these dear people have imprinted their memories in my heart. One of these people I am talking about is my grandmother. We call her Lola B and I do not really know the origin of her nickname because her real name is Carolina, which does not make use of any letter Bs. I surmised it came from her surname when she was still a maiden - "Bruno." Now, that reminds me of Bruno Mars, hehehe. However, he and I have no relation.

Back to my topic... Because I've been musing a lot these past few days about different things that have gone through my life, I came across an old memory that I have of my Lola. She loved to make clothes. I remember when I was around 6 or 7, my cousins and I would ransack my Tita Cristy's wardrobe and try on the gowns that were hung there. I especially remember a bright orange gown that I wore back then. We would try the clothes on and pretend that we were famous actresses. I was Alice Dixon, sometimes Ruffa Gutierrez. Donna was Donna Cruz or Sheryl Cruz, if I am not mistaken. Ronakins, on the other hand, was Leah Salonga, again, if I am not mistaken. When we were done with our fashion show, we would try to arrange everything back to its original state. Of course, our feeble little hands were not as adept then, and so our "kalokohan" would be found out after several hours. A scolding from Lola B or from another adult would ensue afterwards.

We loved to dress up and parade our gowns. Then, we would exchange gowns so we could try all gowns. Though most of the gowns were big for us, we did not mind. Perhaps, this explains why I still love wearing costumes despite my age. I know I am growing too old for costumes but, what the heck, I enjoy them.

My Lola also loved planting. Unfortunately, I did not inherit her green thumb. Just one touch of a plant will surely send the plant on its death bed. Our place was so much greener when lola was still up and about. You would probably see her in the terrace bent on some sprout. The backyard was a vegetable garden. We had malunggay, alugbati, chili, and kamote plus some trees. You did not have to spend so much on food because they were just there laying around. There were ducks and roosters too. The roosters, however, belonged to my uncle and my father who used to spend Sunday mornings in a cockpit arena.

She also had a lot of friends. Her house was always with people. She loved talking to people and sharing her stories. Her house was full of hustle and bustle; it was full of life. Then, there was a considerable length of time when Lola B lived in California. While she was living there, she used to send us LBC boxes with goodies inside - chocolates, clothes, toys and the like. Whenever she comes to the Philippines, her friends would come and visit her. Then her house would be full of life again.

In memory of Lola B, I decided to make a slideshow of her pictures. I asked my daughter to do the narration because she is better at it, hehehe.