Holding Hands

So this blog really is not supposed to be about love, but so far it is.  I guess it is because I spent last weekend with my grandparents.  It was Papa Joe's 90th birthday and Magui's 85th.  Who could ever imagine!  The best part of the weekend was watching Papa Joe and Magui sit next to each other with all of us around them.  They were so happy to be surrounded by all of us.  We told them all the things we love about them.  Could you ever imagine a sweeter gift? 

I told them that I loved them for teaching me to love unconditionally.  They love all of us with all of our faults and our imperfections.  They love my husband, and welcomed him into their home the first time he met them.  They told him, at 18, that their home was now his.  I sometimes wonder if he fell in love with me because of them.  Everyone loves them.  All of us, but also all of the friends and family we have taken to meet them.  There home is open… to everyone…no questions asked.  They give you food, but more importantly they nourish the soul.  They care that you are there, and they are happy that you are there.  They have lived in that same house for at least 65 years.  If you listen quietly, you can hear the laughter and the nights of dancing, and the piano playing, and maybe just maybe you can smell the gorditas cooking. 

They taught us about culture and the love of music.  I could listen to Magui play her beautiful piano all day.  When she graduated from the Mexican Conservatory of Music, she was the youngest at the time to ever to do so.  She took me to see Ballet Folklorico.  She taught me about the Mexican culture, and I fell in love with it.  When we were little, they would show us all the old movies with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly and Betty Grable.  I love to dance I am sure because of her and her beautiful old movies.  I show the movies to Lili and Cade now.  "Singing in the Rain" is my favorite, and Lili loves Carmen Miranda and is so happy when her arms are covered in bracelets "like the girl with the big hat."

They taught us the importance of pride in everything.  Take pride in your work, in your ownership, in your family, and in each other. 

The best thing they taught us was to hold hands.  Papa Joe said they have been holding hands for 70 years.  He told us of how they met and how they married.  There was no formal "Will you marry me?"  Just a ring and then a wedding.  They hold hands when they sit next to each and when they stand together.  (As Papa Joe says, now there is just a cane in the other hand).

As I sat in the movie theater today holding my husband's hand, I made a wish that I could do this for another 60 years.   Next time I see them I need to take a picture of their hands.  Holding on to each other.