Smiles, Karaoke and Eggrolls!

While there are many things I will carry with me about Mama from the last twenty years, there are a few that especially stand out to me.

The first is her smile. Whenever she smiled, and she did that a lot, her whole face would light up. The apples of her cheeks would get all rosy, her teeth would show and her soulful eyes would completely disappear! I loved to see that because it just showed how genuinely happy she could get about things. And most of the time, those smiles were accompanied by giggles-whether it be at something Bea did, Nelly said or when Michelle would tease her about something. And once she started giggling, it got all of us going! I actually remember the first time she met my son Vaughn and held him. She sat him on her lap and just kept smiling at him while he looked up at her with his bobble-head and I remember thinking how crazy it was that my kids would now learn her smile and that thought actually warmed me up inside.

Mama also liked to listen to Karaoke. As some of you may know, I love singing and we girls would stay up hours, with mics in our hands, pretending to be superstars! And Mama would just go about her business in the house, popping in once a while with a request. She always asked me to sing Silent Night, whether it was Christmas time or the middle of July, it didn't matter! I guess she liked my rendition, LOL! Or she would really put me on the spot and ask me to sing a song in Tagalog. And of course, I had to oblige because I couldn't very well say no to her, could I? None of us could! So, I would sing the song requested, whether I understood what I was saying or not, and she would pop her head into the living room when I was finished, with one of those Mama smiles and clap, saying "Beautiful Pam, beautiful!" and then pop back out. Silent Night will always be my song for her....

Eggrolls!!!!! This is perhaps my fondest memory of Mama. I was over one day to play with Nelly, we couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years old. Mama and Dad were cooking, of course, and she had just set up the table with everything needed to make eggrolls. I happened to walk past her for one reason or another and the next thing I know, she's telling me to wash my hands and come sit down, an eggroll making lesson was about to begin. Of course, I did as she requested. So, here I am, learning how to roll eggrolls from the best and she's watching every move I make, LOL! "No, that's too loose", "that one is too small", she kept after me until I learned to do it just right. Poor Nelly ended up rolling too because of the "HELP ME!!!" look I gave her as she walked by. Mama was firm in teaching us how to do it but always supportive. We sat there for over an hour making them and though it was stressful at times, we still had so much fun with her, learning, chatting and laughing.

Even with something as trivial as making eggrolls or singing Karaoke, I wanted her to be proud of me. I wanted her to know how much I respected her as the matriarch of my second family. I felt she loved me with her gentle taps on my shoulder, her smiles and her quiet appreciation of little things I did, or the way she looked at my kids. That meant so much to me. I will miss her very much but my heart will never miss the love I have for her, that will forever be ingrained within me.

Pam