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.
No comments:
Post a Comment