Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Partners in Crime - Mel, Maria and Fred

Mel (engineer, RC pilot and father of 2)

What can i say about Mel, he was truly was my partner in crime. I was 4 yrs younger and having Mary between Mel and I, i would follow Mel everywhere and he let me tag along.

We told so many Mel stories at his wedding rehearsal dinner that the family of the bride almost walked out. We had to tone it down.

The famous story was the time we were paying back a neighbor for twisting Mel's arm by lighting a firecracker (M80) in his front yard. I panic and threw it onto the porch. With a loud bang, the man of the house came after us with a shotgun. We ran, but when we got home the man was waiting in the living room with our Dad. OUCH !!

Mel was the best athlete and could walk on his hands and ride bikes backwards. But he would always run out of gas and blow headcaskets of our old Rambler with 200,000 miles on it. My Dad with which ever son was nearby would put in new headcaskets and keep that car running for the teenage sons to drive.

Mel and i went to the same high school St Anselms Abbey in DC. We drove together for 2 years across the town. I also got to practice with his basketball team even though i was only in the middle school. It was great having an older brother around in school.

Mel also gave me the passion to buy a motorcycle. We drove around McLean, Va like we were big shots. He also passed on the paper route to me too.

Now Mel takes care of my son Brandon who studies at MIT (where Mel got his Masters degree) and flies RC planes with Uncle Mel. They have been inseparable these past 6 years. Mel will miss Brandon when he moves to California to get married.

Thanks Mel for all the memories. Thanks for always being there and thanks for getting me and this family involved with the internet it saved my mental mind in Tampa.

Maria (counselor and mother of 12)

Maria will always be my older sister. She is the one that raised me from 5 yrs old to 16 yrs of age. I know she had to constantly get me out of trouble and best of all she fed me all those years. Sorry sis that you had to be a mother to me and Fred when you were so young. I know cooking and grocery shopping are not the most fun things to do when you are a teenage girl.

Mary also drove me halfway to school every morning since Mel had graduated and gone onto college. Many mornings she had to help me finish delivering that newspapers. And she would be the only one at my high school basketball games.

The only story i have about Mary was when she was dating Peter, my teammate at St Anselms. I would be their chaperon to the movies and afterwards they would send me in for some ice cream. I thought they were great guys. Later i found out that they were kissing goodnight in the car while i waited to be serve....lol

Maria and Peter decided to have a large family, as large as God would allow them. They have 12 kids and all very successful in college. Now one by one they are getting married. I suspect that Mary will have 50 grandkids by the time she dies.
That is going to be one hell of a funeral.

When ever i had a bad time raising my 2 boys, all i would have to do is think about Mary and her 12. Any problem i had was very small compare to her and her family.

Mary thanks for always being such a good role model and for having such a strong faith in our Church. And thank you for sharing your children's life with me and my sons.

Big Fred (businessman and father of 1)

Fred was the baby of the family, but God created a Big Man with a Bigger Heart.

It was hard for Fred to stand out with 13 older brothers and sisters. He had to find his own nitch and mainly he did it through playing chess and doing good deeds for others.

Fred is best know in our family for picking people up at the airport at any time of the day. He is also famous for bring water and advil to the famous uncle vs nephew basketball games.

I guess Fred's best story is that he gets to drive famous people around Miami like Jerry Lewis, Paul McCartney and George Hamilton. He has brought Jerry Lewis over by my parents house to take a picture of Jerry with my folks.

Fred has also traveled to Cuba and he is the number one person people ask about.

Monday, January 10, 2011

The Bottom 6

Xavier (the mayor and father of 4)

Xavier was the best man at my wedding. He was and still is the leader of the bottom 6. When he was born the sisters all checked under his diapers to make sure it was a boy. We had had 6 girls in a ROW.

Xavier was an excellent basketball player and even better in the classroom. He was an excellent model for the bottom six. He also liked doing house work which was very unusual for a Cuban boy.

I have way too many stories, but one that sticks out in my mind was the time we went to Georgetown U. to play a little pick up ball. We won about 10 games in a row. After about 6 or 7, i was ready to quit, but Xavier said NO !! we do not leave until we lose.

In 1976 he drove from Boston to Miami and passed by Jacksonville. He was driving an old car that burnt as much oil as gas. I could hear and see him coming up University Blvd and wonder, wow it must be tough to be a Harvard graduate.

When practicing law in Miami, he once took a boy home as the courts guardian. The boy cleaned out his house of the few possessions he had at the time.

Everyone i meet who lived in Miami during the 1980's knows Xavier Suarez. Most people in Tampa do not know who their mayor is. Xavier met the Pope, the Queen and Presidents, but the one that impressed him the most was Mother Teresa.

We hope someday Xavier will be the US Ambassador to Cuba.

Charlie (T-rex)

Charlie is our gentle giant. Charlie loves music and loves to play basketball. Even at 60 yrs of age, he plays 2 or 3 times a week. At all weddings and family reunions, Charlie has the basketball ready.

Charlie love of music was passed on down to the bottom 6. We all grew up loving the Beatles and Beach Boys. Charlie always had a bag of games for long car trips to the beach or to Atlanta or other cities my sisters lived in.

I will never forget Charlie for taking the effort to travel to Tampa to see my boys play basketball. He has taught numerous nephews and nieces how to shoot the Rock including me back in the 1960's and my sons in the 1990's.

Charlie is every one's favorite Uncle.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The two middle sisters Mane and Rosi

Manela Diaz (dept chair at Georgetown and mother of 2)

Manela will always be remember as "the tennis player". She was some kind of national champ in Cuba before she got shot. She and some kids were traveling in the mountains near our finca and some milia men were showing off with a gun, when it went off. The bullet travel through Mane and she lost her ability to have children.

Once in the USA, she adopted two beautiful and energetic girls. They gave her many grandchildren.

Manela also took me across the country with her family one summer. We traveled to NY city and Canada and Detroit. Then to St Louis and all the way to Oregon. It was a wonderful two week trip.

I could never beat Mane in tennis until her back started giving her troubles.

Her house in DC is like grand central station. I was sleeping the basement when one morning i woke up in 1 foot of water. They had a little drainage problem when it rained.

Today Manela takes annual trips to Cuba and she also got to meet the Pope when our friend Cardinal O'Malley became a Cardinal in Italy.

Rosemary Garcia-Carreras (banker and mother of 4)

Rosi is probably the most religious in our family. She sure loves her Church.

I spent many summers in Atlanta with Rosi and her family. One of the greatest pleasure of my life was being Cristina's Godfather. I would find every excuse in the sun to visit Atlanta and climb Stone Mountain.

Rosi always had a bowl of my favorite tuna and green pea salad and brownies and ice cream waiting for me.

She also gave me a book called Life on the Rock that changed by world.

Today Rosi is VERY busy with her many grandchildren.

Tia Lala, Godmother Margy and Eloise

Lala (school counselor and mother of 4)

Lala has always been the loudest in our family. With her big frame and loud laugh, we can all hear her coming down the hall. She was the last one to leave Cuba, making sure all her brothers and sisters were safe in the USA.

Even today she leads caravans of relatives back to Havana every summer carrying suitcases of medicine for HER people.

There are just too many stories about Tia Lala (as she is called at my school in Tampa...3 years later they still talk about Tia Lala's visit...they heard her in our hallways too !!...lol)

When we were at Mel's wedding in Boston, we were driving to the rehearsal dinner and we got lost twice in a row (the two smartest people in our family and we could not follow those dam directions). We ended up at the airport...we were laughing so hard we had to pull over and sure enough there came a car full or our sisters...also lost...i have never laughed so hard in my life.

Another time Lala picked me up at National Airport and she was driving me through DC to my friends house MAry CAtherine Dwyer (the daughter of our high school coach). WE were in front of the United States Capitol when we got pulled over by the policeman on the street (this was after 9/11 and there are cops on every street corner... especially at 11 pm)...the cop TOLD Tia Lala to PUT HER LIGHTS ON !! dam shame

I will never forget my trip with her family when i was 14 or 15 to Miami. I was the official babysitter but i learn so much more on that trip...including how to play my favorite game...5 letter word mastermind.

Godmother Margy (family counselor and Vietnam Vet)

My favorite sister. She has to be, she gave me all those birthday presents...lol.

Margy is the kind and calming soul of our family. If you are ever upset or depress, a visit to Seattle, Wash will fix all your problems.

When both my parents ever got sick or in a car wreck, Margy would come to the rescue.

She had the "hard life" and was the only Suarez to serve in Vietnam (Lala's husband Vincent also served). She was a captain in the nurse corp. They called her the "penis nurse" because when soldiers arrived at Triage with there legs all blown up, all they care about was if they still had their manhood...Nurse Suarez would gently guild their hand to their unit and the soldiers would come down. (Sorry my sister, i know how much these memories hurt you still)

When we were young and living 8 kids in a 2 bedroom apartment in DC, Tia Margy would visit and take us on these amazing trips through the creeks of DC. She would also take us to the zoo.

One of the funniest stories i remember about Margy was the time DC got covered in snow, the worst snow of the century. The Washington Post truck could not get through for 3 days to deliver the newspaper and i asked my brothers and sisters for help. Margy fell into a 6 foot snow drift and all i could hear was "Help, someone please help me". She was completely buried in the snow and could not get out.

When my kids were growing up, they went twice to Seattle to visit Tia Margy. They love Tia Margy. They climbed Mt Rainer and went all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Thank YOU Godmother Margy for always being there for ALL of us.

Eloise Hidalgo (Accountant and mother of 5)

Eloise is know for having 5 very politically active children. They are passionate about their Cuba too. I think all 5 have visited Cuba, some more than once.

When i was 16 yrs old, i was invited to drive Eloise and her family to Va Beach. We pulled a little camper behind the car and the most dangerous part of the trip was driving through a tunnel under the water near Va Beach.

One time i was playing a college game in Illinois and i got fouled with 3 seconds to go. I made both free throws and Eloise ran onto the court to hug me. But the game was not over. Everyone stopped why i explained this to my sister. We won the game.

Ely was also the sister that had to help take care of the bottom 6 when we travelled by boat to the USA.

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Funeral for a Friend by Elton John

Many years ago I wrote an email to my 14 brothers and sisters telling them what i would say at their funeral. I had done the same thing to my parents BEFORE they died and to my high school coach too. So I thought I would recreate it here.

Lourdes (the nun) - I will always remember Lourdes as the nun who lived in Peru. She earned her PhD and that was always an inspiration. When ever she visited us in Tampa, she would raise 3 or 4,000 dollars for the poor people of her town. Unfortunately the socialist govt. kicked the nuns our of Peru and she landed in New Orleans.

There are two stories that stick out in my mind. One was when my parents visited Lima, Peru and then some sisters and nieces also visited. Lourdes wrote me and asked me if I also wanted to visit Peru. I said yes, but i did not have the money for a plane ticket. Lourdes suggested i take a BUS !!! (let me see i would have to take a bus from Fla to Texas, then down Mexico and over the Panama Canal and into South America...it would probably take me about 2 or 3 years...lol)

The second story was when she went out the window onto the roof of the greenhouse to retrieve a toothbrush that had fallen out the window. She fell right through the roof but did not break any bones. The called her the "flying nun" after that (a famous TV show of the 1960's).

When she was young one of the brothers and sisters punctured the ear drum of someone by accident. The doctor said it would never heal and permanent damage to that ear. Lourdes poured holy water from Lourdes, Europe and the ear drum miraculous healed.

George (the principal and father of 3) - George was the second oldest and after him followed 6 girls in a row. So our family was 1 boy and 7 girls. That must have been hard and yet an honor to be the oldest brother in the Cuban culture. He was very successful at Belen and developed into an very good tennis player. He went to cemenary to become a priest but did not have the calling. He was not in Cuba during the Bay of Pigs and i think he always felt a little left out since his three sisters and Dad were put in prison.

George was in education and earned his MAsters degree in Education. The first thing i remember about George was when he was principal of an all girls school in Va. called Foxtrot (or something like that). He was the King of this place, with a house and go cart for his two boys and an electric ball machine for tennis.

Later he moved to Miami and the public school system where he rose to supervisor of three elementary schools. He was the first one in our family to get divorce and remarry. His second marriage produced a third son who became a very good tennis player.

I will always remember George as the bothers who was 20 yrs older than me. Who was in my field of interest education. Who road a motorcycle and was the first of the brothers to suffer from the aches and pains of too much sports including the athletic heart.

One story that sticks out in my mind was when he lived in south miami in a subdivision and they had tennis courts. It was suppose to be opened at 8 am but there was a LOCK on gate. George waited until 8:30 and then went home and got some wire cutters. When the developer of the subdivision showed up at 9 am and inquired about the cut lock, George said it was him. The developer said George would have to pay for the lock. George said BILL ME !! and send the Bill to 123 Fidel St, Havana, Cuba...lol (needless to say, George keeps Xavier's law practice busy).

George was one of the last principals to paddle students with the parents permission of course.

One of his proudest moments was when he was allowed to use Xavier's pass and ride on a Nuclear Sub...he actually got behind the wheel and drove the dam thing.

He was also FRONT and center for Francis Xavier (X's son) swearing in as Miami City Commissioner. He is very proud of ALL his 14 brothers and sisters.

Teresa (the homemaker with 10 children)

Teresa was the first one to get married and began having many babies. Her family have produced many musicians, one even signed with Sony.

Since she lived in the DC area and i used to babysit her kids, i have many stories of the Bernado's. My favorite is the time the two older ones Luie and Georgie were in a town parade (Vienna, Va) and i had the other 4 with me (this is when there were only 6 Bernardo's). We clapped and yelled as we saw the two older brothers proudly march by and then i realized i had to be at the finish line to pick them up (they were 10 and 9 at the time). But the Bernardo kids were so grown up, they ran down the street and found me. I guess being 6'6" and with a baby on my shoulder, i was easy to spot. But i had never been so scared to have lost another person's child before.

Another funny story many years later was when we went to a Pizza Hut after a baseball game that involve the 3 boys out of the bottom 4 children (by the way the last was Cristina and they saved the BEST for last....what a doll and what a ball player). Anyways when we walked into the Pizza Hut with 10 kids...the people busily put several tables together and started bringing out pitchers of different soft drinks. No one order and several minutes later, out came about 4 or 5 pizza's. I guess the Bernardo's have been at this Pizza Hut a few times....lol

We look forward to every family wedding or reunion to hear the Bernardo's play their guitars...and of course the older brothers (and Cristina) play a little ball.