It’s been a year since my grandfather died. It’s gone by really quickly and I still don’t believe that he’s gone. Here’s a picture of him with his grandchildren on Father’s Day in 1986 at his home on Wilsky Blvd in Tampa, FL.
“Nanang” was called by relatives as TOYANG, for Victoriana, and by friends or neighbors as “IDOT” for “pinidot.” Pinidot because when she was young she was very sickly and no amount of medicine could cure her. A faith healer suggested that she be thrown elsewhere to be picked up by somebody and rename her IDOT. “Pinidot” is Ilocano for “picked up.” After that she got
As a child, I understood Heaven to be where God and his saints and angels are found, up in the sky beyond the clouds, “beyond the blue yonder.” But when I rode the plane up beyond the clouds, I did not meet St. Peter or any angel up there. Where could Heaven really be? The Bible in Colossians 3:3 says: “Your real life is in
In order to continue my studies in H.S., I had to work and earn my money for matriculation and tuition fees. Father’s slipper making business slowed down following my mother’s death. I joined the Public Works Road Gang earning P0.45 or less than $0.25, a quarter of a dollar a day. I was the only one riding a bike to work from Bangued to Palau.
As a third year student in the New Nueva Vizcaya Vocational H.S., with a new name and new classmates, I felt embarrassed when, during the first day roll call, I failed to respond when my new name was called until our teacher included my second name, Sibayan. I blushed as everyone turned towards me not realizing the fact that I was, for the first time
I saw how lonely father became after mother’s death but he took his loss bravely with that usual smile for anything that happens. He fell in love with a beautiful young employee of the La Flor de Pita tobacco factory of Don Juan Valera and got married. That was when I was 2nd year in H.S. in 1933. My uncle Lt. Bravo visited us and
Mother’s death when I was 14 was the most traumatic experience I had. I visited her grave almost every day after school hours because the cemetery was close to the Abra H.S. where I enrolled as 2nd year student. There I cried, I prayed, I wished… she were still alive. I learned how to sing the Ilocano song entitled “Kanta ti Ulila” (Song of an
Before I totally leave Bangued from the “Story of My Life”, I would like to share some personal experiences that I can’t forget. Pensionados One of them is my conversation with my brother, Elix, while walking to buy “lomo-lomo” in Pagpartian. I was about seven and he was about five years of age more or less. I asked him what he wanted to be when
It was there in 1970 when my daughter, Jocelyn, was being honored for winning the beauty contest as Miss Red Feather Philippines as Abra’s representative that I got an accolade from a beautiful daughter of our late neighbor, Ex-Governor Bienvenido Valera, saying: “Magpintas laketdin ta anacyon, Momon Siniong!” It was the late Tata Benid, her father, who said to me in 1950, upon meeting me
The Provincial Governor, Don Virgilio Valera, always wore a white suit, white shoes and white PANAMA or straw hat from Panama. He also wore white hair as there was no dying of hair then. The same is also true with the Presidente (Mayor) Don Bienvenido Valera who was of Spanish ancestry, hence, had white skin like Don Virgilio. Don Quinten Paredes, the Congressman of Abra
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