Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Hawwa's Speech to me

My friend gave me this speech a few weeks before my grandmother passed away. I was struggling with wanting to see her in the hospital in that condition.
I find it poetic and amazingly uplifting.

Anthony you really owe it to yourself to be strong. Being strong means shedding a lot of layers and confronting the honest truth about ourselves and our situations. Not all of which you will like. Being strong means embracing a better part of yourself and allowing others to see that, you're on the verge of really changing. Don't let your fears hold you back. Its time Anthony. I see nothing wrong with challenging yourself to be a better and stronger person only because you've been through too much to give me that, "I don't want to be strong" nonsense. We all have those moments but the greatest gift you can give YOURSELF is strength and an unyielding belief in your positive future.

Monday, June 24, 2013

Last words for my grandmother

This is the speech I gave at her wake.

Buenas noches, gracias todo por vienir.  Soy el neito de Blanca. Voy a empezar en espanol y despues hablar ingles. Amo a mi Abuela. Ella era una persona muy amable y gentil, que lucho a traves de cancer y otras problemas de la vida. A pessar de todo nunca dejou de amar a su famila y amigos. Su luz y illumina nostras viedas para siempre. Trata de no lloara a pesar de que yo lo hare porque mi abuela esta decansando en el cielo con su madre hermana y hijo gracias.

Being a grandmother means you get to spoil your grandkids the way you never spoiled your kids. I equate being a grandmother as the ultimate protector. Being an grandmother was saying highly inappropriate things at highly inappropriate times but thinking it was ok.

Now mi Abuela, was a strong woman. Mi Abuela was a God fearing woman with God like resolve. Mi Abuela was the kind of woman that got beat down by certain family members, beat down by chemo and cancer, beat down by former lovers, beat down by life and was still able to get up and show unconditional love to her friends and family. There was no mistaking the love of Blanca Romero, because you felt that love from your heart to your soul. It was not the commercial hallmark love. It was not the obligatory family love just for family sake. It was the kind of love more powerful than death and time itself. Mi Abuela was the kind of woman as she was grasping for air, could still shoot you the most beautiful and most wonderful smile to melt your heart. Mi Abuela was so many things.

I hope that the traits and life lessons she instilled in me can be a testament to the kind of woman she was. I hope all her grandkids can be a testament of her life. A reflection of her inner beauty. Her death has hurt me profoundly because I know the warmth of her love cannot be replicated. She may be gone from this Earth but never from my heart.