I am happy to celebrate my grandparents’ 54th wedding anniversary. Many things need to work together to achieve this number. My grandfather sent me an email and he assured me that love, respect and being there equally in the good ones and bad ones is indispensable.
When I think about their lives together there has been a lot of happy times but also difficult ones. They got married in 1958, only 7 months before the triumph of the Cuban Revolution. My grandma’s father had built a house himself and gave it to my grandparents as their wedding gift. Her family was not wealthy but had a pretty decent lifestyle result of my great granddad’s hard work setting a paper factory. He also managed to built a few small houses that he started renting. This side of the family was a part of the middle class of Havana in the 50’s. My grandma studied at an American school in Miramar, surrounded by the high class of the time.
My newly wed grandfather had finished his university studies and had started working at the bank. He was the youngest of five children and the only one that did not begin working at an early age and was able to go to the university. He came from a humble family but a very proud one. His mother spent her life in front of a sewing machine and washing and ironing clothes for people who had the money to pay for the service.
At this point they had no clue that a year later my mom was going to be born, in the middle of a socialist revolution. My grandma’s extended family decided to leave the country when they noticed the communism smell. My grandma refused to leave while her husband,( my grandfather), was fond of the Revolution. Everyone left for Miami, except for my grandma and her parents, separating the family until this date. This case, of course, is not a rare one. She has never seen again the relatives who spent the first 20 years of her life near her.
In the decade of the 60’s my grandparents were working at their jobs and doing all kinds of voluntary work, like many other Cubans. My mom was growing up and my grandma, who loves kids and wanted to have at least 5, began to have problems due to her blood type, the RH- factor. At that time babies used to die and doctors had not figured out the way to deal with this blood type issue. My grandma lost 3 babies and got into a heavy depression. My grandfather was there for her day and night. At the end of the road, they had 3 beautiful kids and life rewarded her with great friends who I consider family today.Their support and love allowed them to keep living with a strong will and tenderness.
My mom repeats that she has an exceptional dad. I can second her also saying that I have an exceptional grandad. No matter at what time I get to Havana, normally at 2 am since I arrive with Cubana Airlines, he is there waiting for me, ready to help with anything and everything, because he thinks he needs to take care of the younger ones. His energy is infinite. Sometimes I suffer thinking that he is almost 80 and still goes to the office everyday. He so deserves to be retired and by a beach somewhere but at the same time I imagine him going nuts at home all day. His sense of responsability is very high. He dreams of a better world, he likes efficiency and organization and his values and manners are admirable. In the Cuba of today, these human qualities are found once a year and my story can be taken as science fiction. I love to talk to him and do talk to him about everything. The only thing I do not find interesting about my grandfather is his love for baseball. 😉
My grandma retired about a decade ago, her health does not let her do the crazy things that my granddad does but she finds a way to maintain a spotless house without the help of anyone and never stops cooking. The only thing limiting her is the lack of ingredients. No matter how, when or with whom you go visit her she receives you with a smile that soothes your soul torments and rapidly starts to prepare something to eat while endlessly chatting. I miss her everyday of my existence and I can’t wait to hug her. First thing I do when I get to Havana is pass by her place at 4 am, give her a hug and get my flan dessert that she always has ready for me to pick up. She was so precious to me when I was little that I baptized her “Tata” as soon as I started saying some words.
My great grandfather (Tata’s dad) got some money from the government after he gave all his properties away to the state and died at the age of 90. His sweet Spanish wife lived up to 99 years old and with the economical help of the Spanish government for the last years of her life. She never understood why in such a fertile land there was lack of food. My grandma was lucky to see her parents grow old, she was an incredible daughter and this is something I saw with my own two eyes as I was growing up very close to them.
I am not sure how long my grandparents are going to be there (physically) for me and I prefer not to think about it. For the time being, I thank nature everyday and celebrate life with them, and of course, wedding anniversaries.
