To be honest, when Luisa and I started dating, Mima actually did not like me. She did not like me because I am Puerto Rican and her family is Cuban. Even though there is a saying that Puerto Ricans and Cubans are two wings of the same bird, she obviously did not see it that way. You see, when Mima came over from Cuba in the mid 60’s, all she heard were rumors about Puerto Rican guys hitting their wives, and she immediately assumed the worst of what could become to her precious granddaughter :)
My family is not like that, and never has been. Nor was I aware of any of the so called Puerto Ricans that did that in the town I grew up in. Anyhow, Luisa and I dated for about 5 years before we got married. Over time, Mima softened up her view of me and we actually grew to have an amazing relationship with each other. She took care of our first son, Dan, along with Luisa’s mom and my mom. Every afternoon, I would go to Mima’s house to pick up Danny from her house and find him in the yard in the back of the house playing with his dinosaurs with Mima. She would tell us stories about her adventures with Dan and how he would try to run away from her when she took him for a walk.
Over the years, Mima and I loved to enjoy listening to music together. She would love to play these games with my brother in law where she would tell him what music I had purchased and then tell me what music he would purchase. Adding fuel to the flame just to get us to enhance our music tastes and collection.
She lived in FL with Luisa’s parents and her brother’s family. But she would fly up or would get dropped off to spend weeks with us at a time. During those times, she would always look out for my best interest and ask Luisa, what she was planning on making for dinner. To make sure that I was taken care of. Since I have a very adventurous appetite, pretty much eating anything prepared, she loved to cook for me, making traditional Spanish foods that Luisa would not eat but that she would and of course, I would.
This went on for many years. Even after her love, Mipo, of over 50 years, passed away, Mima had the will to live life to her fullest. Enjoying her family, especially her grandchildren and great grandchildren. They were her pride and joy and everybody knew this. She was extremely faithful and always believed that she had better things that awaited her.
My dad’s mother, whom I saw only 4 times in my life, was the only “related” grandmother that I knew of. That is of course, until I met Mima. She gave me so much to look forward to. To enjoy and to appreciate. She gave me a lifetime of memories and a new appreciation of my heritage and my culture. She inspired me to rise up to the occasion and to prove to her that Puerto Rican’s were not what she thought they were but what I was able to make her see.
I loved to give her grief and would constantly remind her about how much she did not like me at first. She would always immediately respond that she was so sorry and that she did not know me. I did this not to be evil but to kid around with her. I would also tell Luisa that, in the end, Mima loved me more than her. Of course, that was not the case, since Luisa was everything for her. But I do believe that Mima loved me like a grandson and I absolutely loved her as a grandmother. I actually got to know her more than my own grandmother and I sincerely could not have asked for a better one than Mima.
So, Easter is of course a very special day for me. It is a Holy day. A holiday. A day with beautiful memories of all of the Easter baskets that we have given the kids, the pictures we have taken and, and the restaurants that we have gone to, to celebrate Easter. But most of all, it is the day that I will remember for the rest of my life. The day that Mima went to be with Jesus. I miss you.
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