Page 34 - Senior Link Magazine Spring 2018 - Online Magazine

2 2 HONORING SENIORS

Senior Senior

Always

There

by Vivian Chavira

hroughout our lives, we depend work, school, and her boyfriend. I Speaking of family, I must admit I’m
on the people around us, as they liked to clean for Nana and give her not a person who cares much about
Tultimately help shape who we massages because her muscles and the concept, but my grandma has still
are as individuals. There is no other bones hurt, and because she gave managed to instill the importance of
person on earth who has guided and me lots of praise for my hard work keeping your family close no matter
shaped me as much as my grandma. and developing masseuse skills. It how far apart you become. Everyone
While I’m sure almost everyone loves was this point in my life that was in our family is busy, and we can’t
and appreciates their grandparents to most important because I had just seem to make very much time for
a great extent, a billion words couldn’t entered middle school and was on each other, yet every year without
possibly be enough to fill the space my way to becoming a teenager. I’m fail, Nana manages to round us up
my grandma has claimed in my heart. thankful that she was there to give us around Christmas time, so that we
For as long as I can remember, my all life lessons and scoldings about can all get together to make tamales
grandma has been a constant in my making smart decisions. I especially for the holidays. This past season, she
life, taking on a huge role in raising enjoyed our free time, when Nana told my cousins and me, “You need to
me to be the person I am today. and I would lie in her bed while she learn the tradition of making tamales
When I think of my Nana, I think of watched telanovelas. She would tell without my help, because I may not
El Rancho, where I spent a lot of my me stories about her teenage years be around to tell all of you what to do
childhood, playing with my cousins and about my tios and tias, working next year.” It makes me sad thinking
and eating Nana’s home cooked on the ranch, pulling weeds from the about my Nana leaving us, but I also
meals. As one of her grandchildren, field when they were children. My know she’s trying to ensure that the
I’m sure she loved and cared for me favorite story is the one where Nana family tradition of making tamales
as much she did the others, but I felt would yell really loudly for one of her together is kept alive after she passes,
as though we grew much closer in my kids when they were playing outside, as this means our family will always
early middle school years than I had and when they came rushing in to see be together. Nana tells us that making
with any other person in the family. what was wrong, she would ask them tamales and being loyal to our family
to manually change the channel on the is in our Hispanic roots, and we
At the time, my parents were going T.V. because they had lost the remote. always need to uphold our values.
through a divorce, and my mom It is through these stories that I was
couldn’t afford any housing, so we able to grow closer to my Nana, as we I don’t think I could ever thank my
lived with Nana for a while instead. shared many memories and laughs, Nana enough for raising me. Even
She was like a lifeline for my siblings and I was able to learn many new though my siblings and I were bad
and me, as my mom didn’t have things about my family. sometimes, and she would have to
much time to balance children, bring out la chancla, I knew that

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