Family Lore

Just met up with Tita Florry, Bettina's mom and Tita Tina, Tita Florry's first cousin last night. Talking with them, I realized the need for knowing family, for tracing the deepest roots and tracking the farthest branches. It's important to know who you are. In this day and age, the satellite family, especially in some western countries, is in danger of losing its context.

Tita Tina's relentless pursuit of family history is quite admirable. Every family should have one such historian/ storyteller/ keeper of lore. It's amazing to see your life in that perspective.  A sweep of both the personal and the historic. It's material for a very long, very rich novel. I told her she should write a book. And no doubt she will.

I wonder about my own roots, especially on my mother's side. It goes all the way back to China, I'm sure. The history of Uy Pienco, perhaps from Xiamen. I'm not sure. All I know is that my great grand father sent my grandfather to study there. I gathered all of this only after his death, from the stories of Engineer Liu, his good friend. Even my maternal grandmother is an enigma to me. I just know that she was from Ilocos. And that's it. No other information. I feel saddened by this.

I'm glad I've written a lot of journals. Electronic and otherwise. That's a lot of history to pass on. The good and the bad. No apologies. That was my life. Or my view of it, anyway.