My most favorite bahay bakasyunan growing up is a house in Hyacinth Street, Roxas District in Quezon City. Not because it was Lolo Mario and Lola Ganding’s house, (or Tito Jun’s house), or that there are usually about four to five of us at a time (3rd Gen Gonzalesclan) in the house with me.
I loved it because:
1. They had the coolest aquarium – not just a bowl or a box, it went all around the house like a moat;
2. Tito Jun had a cool air gun that I loved playing with; and most of all
3. They had a roomful of comic books! Marie Bernardez heaven!
Every year I spent at least a week of my summer vacation at the Hyacinth House. So although I have no “closeness” claim on him, aside from my Lolo Imon, he was the Lolo I saw the most. And I had always felt welcome in their house. I do not remember doing any chores while I was there 🙂 Lolo Mario was a great preacher and Sunday School teacher, yet I never got a sermon in his house (a good thing).
Then Lolo Mario and Lola Ganding moved to the States. I didn’t get to go to the Hyacinth House anymore but every time I get to pass by Pegasus (a gentleman’s club located by the street that I know leads to Lolo Mario’s house) I remember, and wish I could go there again.
In 2007, with no work, no money, (but with credit card) I went on a People I Love in California trip. One of my stops was Lolo Mario’s and Lola Ganding’s house in Vallejo, CA. And it had been proof that there is no such thing as time and distance to family. Even after not seeing them for 20 some years, as soon as I saw them, it felt like we had never been apart. They were Lolo Mario and Lola Ganding, and I was just Marie, their apo.
Lolo Mario showed me his photo album collection which featured four generations of Family. There were slots where pictures should have been, but instead there was a description of what picture had been there and a name of who has the said picture. (He knows who you are, You-Who-Have-Not-Returned-Said-Pics!)
Then he showed me my wedding invitation. (It was crazy and irreverent and funny – like me 🙂 He told me how it made him laugh so hard when he got it, and how whenever he reads it, it still does not fail to make him laugh again. I felt so happy because in spite of the generation gap, the time and distance gap, I felt like he still got me, and he still knew me.
Through stories I felt how very proud he was of his family, his children, and his grandchildren. And how they really really really really really really hope and pray that Tito Jun will be blessed with somebody to love and share life and grow old with, like they did with each other.
Sept 2011. I drove 8 hours to Toronto to see Lolo Mario again. He was there for guess what? Tito Jun’s Wedding! I knew then that his happiness was complete. I think he stayed around longer just to make sure.
August 2012. I have Too much work, No Time, No Money, Credit Cards Maxed Out. It breaks my heart that I could not say goodbye in person. Yet in my grief, I cannot help but be thankful, for I had one of the Greatest Lolos ever.
– Marie Bernardez