**Tissue Warning**
This is Kikita, back from her adventure in Cuba. I saw and did and felt so many things this past week that I am having a hard time deciding what I want to share first.
I met cousins for the first time and hugged them as if I had known them my whole life. I was surrounded, overwhelmed even, with love. People I'd heard stories about, but never seen in person.
I held aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen in years.
I was treated like royalty visiting for a moment, but kissed on the cheek as if I had been there forever. I was served café at every turn, but I was allowed my turn to serve the café.
It is not a question of what I did or saw, it is a question of what I did NOT see or do.
And while I was buzzing all over the first three provinces of Cuba (Pinar del Rio, Habana, & Matanzas), there was another kind of buzzing going on at home. (Home being Tio Timbiriche's house.)
The kind of buzzing that happens when you haven't seen your brother or sister for 50 years.
My abuela, Luza, and her siblings did not stop talking and loving each other the whole trip. They did everything together. Every meal they ate together. There are thousands of things I saw this past week that touched my heart, but at the end of the day watching the five Perez-Puelles siblings interact was definitely one of the most amazing sites. I felt honored to be able to watch and listen. They talked about everything. They remembered old neighbors and things their mother used to cook and things their father used to say. They even sat around remembering old radio commercials and old inside jokes. One of my favorite moments was when they had a "whose granddaughter is the best cook?" discussion. 😉
They barely touched on politics or the reasons why they stayed or left. They bickered as any set of siblings is wont to do, but at the end of the day the joy of being together was shining on all of their faces.
Yesterday, the day we left, their last breakfast together, my abuela read them the following poem and just as they had spent the whole week talking and laughing together they hugged and cried together.
Quiero gozar cuanto pueda
y, con acierto y medida,
gastar moneda a moneda
el tesoro de la vida;
mas no quiero ser jamás
como el que amontona el oro
y no goza del tesoro
por acrecentarlo más.
Quiero gozar sin pasión,
esperar sin ansiedad,
sufrir con resignación,
morir con tranquilidad;
que al llegar mi postrer día,
quiero pensar y decir:
"Viví como viviría
si ahora volviera a vivir.
"Viví como un peregrino
que, olvidando sus dolores,
pasó cogiendo las flores
de los lados del camino;
"cantando he dejado atrás
la vida que recorrí;
pedí poco y tuve más
de lo poco que pedí;
"que si nadie me envidió
en el mundo necio y loco,
en ese mundo tampoco
tuve envidia a nadie yo".
He resuelto despreciar
toda ambición desmedida
y no pedirle a la vida
lo que no me puede dar.
He resuelto no correr
tras un bien que no me calma;
llevo un tesoro en el alma
que no lo quiero perder,
y lo guardo porque espero
que he de morir confiado
en que se lo llevo entero
al Señor, que me lo ha dado.
- José María Pemán
Nice….problem is I’m left wanting more!!!! I’m glad, super glad, they all looked so happy!
I did not prepare, not even with your warning and my eyes did welled up. Thank you for bringing the story that so many of us share.
Ah, tears. I knew your first post back from Cuba would make me cry. What a lovely family you have, Kikita, near and far.
Welcome back Kikita! I heeded your tissue warning because I knew I would shed many tears. Please write more about your trip. It must have been such a wonderful experience to see your grandmother finally reunited with all her siblings. Makes me want to see my family in Cuba even more than ever.
Kikita,What a lovely granddaughter you are! My eyes did indeed tear up when I read your post, but what really got to me was the look of joy on your grandmother’s face sitting on the edge of the bed with her sisters. They looked like little schoolgirls at sleepover, and your Grandmother Luza looked 20 years younger!
God Bless you and your family!
MAN…WARNING OR NOT…THAT WAS A TEAR JERKER! i cannot imagine having to catch up with my 2 sisters like that…a lifetime in a week…But their faces were the ultimate guide that it didnt matter! it was the present that matters! your trip and your abuela have taught me alot this week…hope to see you in miami and give her a kiss as a thanks from me.
Beautiful! You MUST do something with that photo of the three girls on the edge of the bed. Enter it into a contest, put it on a huge canvas and hang it somewhere…it is PRICELESS!
What a great story. So glad you were able to go and report it so faithfully! Can’t wait to get the complete debriefing. Thank you for helping to make my mom so happy. Love you!
Kikita, what an adventure! I want to hear more about your trip. What a story to tell. Post more photos. The look on everyone’s face is pure joy. I am happy for your family.
This is so cute! It totally warmed my heart, that despite all the difficulties and heartaches our people have had that there still can be such truly touching moments to be shared. Everytime Ive gone to Cuba Ive been welcomed by my cousins and everyone so whole-heartedly its as if we lived side by side all our lives. This post truly proves that love knows no boundaries, whether they be physical or political. thank you for this. can’t wait to read more about your trip! and that picture of the 3 sisters is adorable!
wow, I’m crying nowI’m a Cuban living in Canada and although I’ve been back and seen my 2 sisters, that picture brought tears to my eyes. I think of my 2 sisters every day and wish they were here with me.
Love trascends politics and distance and time. I was reminded of a song by Carlos Varela “Fotos de Familia” …”al final, no sirvio de nada”.
Darn it, no fair making the pregnant woman weep. I’ve been avoiding your entries for the first time in months because I know blubbering in front of the kids will invite more blubbering as I explain. Thank you though for sharing and those pics of your abuela with her siblings – priceless.