MEMORIES OF VISITS TO MY GRANDMOTHER'S HOME

In this family photo, we see my mom, Dr. Estelita Ramos-Olivas, standing behind her mother Adelaida Tanjutco Ramos whom we fondly called "Inang".

Mommy had eight siblings. Her father Jose Cojuangco Ramos was a graduate of agriculture from the University of the Philippines.

Her sisters were Tita Pining Buensuceso and Tita Dely Gloria while her brothers were Tito Bebe, Tito Pepe, Tito Vic, Tito Rolly and Tito Teddy.

Sometimes I stayed with Inang during vacations. She lived in the Spanish ancestral home in Hagonoy, Bulacan. I remember there were a lot of trees in her garden --- among them guava, chico and balimbing, and we were free to take and eat as much as we wanted.

Inang told me stories of how there would be parties in that garden, and my mind imagined how it was --- the visitors dressed formally, and there was dancing.

She said my mom loved to dress up and to party when she was young. That, I could not imagine. Inang even showed me my mom's party dresses and stiletto shoes that where stored in her wooden "baul". They were pretty with lace and sequins, and the waistline was only 18 inches! How can that be!!!

As I grew up, I remember Inang's cabinet with glass doors where she kept porcelain dolls. They were beautiful, but we could not play with them. I thought how can your doll be made of porcelain and enjoy them? They looked lonely behind the glass doors.

It was a huge house, that place in Hagonoy. The end room had big paintings of our ascendants, whose eyes stared at me wherever I stood in that room.

The center area of the house was huge, and Inang had a very big "banig" with a matching mosquito net that could hold as many as maybe ten people. We slept there at night.

The part I liked most was the "banggera", the part of the kitchen that had a big "tapayan" (clay jar with a faucet) for cool water. And there was a big structure that served as a giant stove. Clay plots and charcoal were used, and you had to blow through a pipe to cause embers to glow while you cooked.

There was a cabinet with a door made of long vertical bamboo strips with a gap of about half inch between the strips, for ventilation. This is where they stored food when Inang had no refrigerator yet.

Later on, as I grew up, these were replaced with plumbing, a refrigerator, and an electric stove. But the porcelain dolls remained, though I often brought my own doll and my cousin Sarah who lived with Inang also had her many toys.

I have a lot of fond memories in Hagonoy and thank God for all these. Thank you Abba Father for these wonderful memories that reflect your goodness.