Roots

My Mom was asking me earlier why I had so many tomato plants. I told her they all came from one tomato. Our conversation eventually veered towards that a possible long-lost relative from Italy who reached out to my cousin. I saw my Mom got excited as I told her stories about our lineage which I learned from my cousins.

Most of these are the tomato plants. I haven't re-potted any of the peppers.
They also came from one bell pepper.

No wonder they call it a "family tree". Like the slices from one tomato I planted, it sprouted and became several tomato plants. Eventually the plants will bear fruit and likely some of the seeds from those fruits will sprout and become plants. And the cycle will go on. Much like families.

While I was doing some research I found that the roots of our family did start in Italy and then some of them moved to Spain and Mexico and then the Philippines, other countries in Latin America and then the US. The funny thing is there's just a very small number left in Italy and most are in the Philippines and there are clusters in the Spain, Latin America and the US. There's so much you can learn about your lineage by searching online.

Knowing these things will not really change anything, but I'm thankful that now I have better understanding who were all those Titos and Titas who'd come visit our home while I was growing up. They were a lot. It's only now that I realized that they were my Mom's first cousins because my grandfather came from a very big family.

One interesting thing I learned is the common names used across generations. My mom and her siblings had the same names from my grandpa's generation. In my generation my older cousins bear the same name as the past generations. The next generation also have the same names. The long lost relative from Italy shared that the names we've been using is similar to those names used also in other countries. I wonder if other families are the same.

Now that I know a bit more about my maternal lineage I'm curious how I can get to know better my paternal ancestry. It's going to be hard to do online and I think will be better if I can interview my cousins.

What about you? Were you every curious about your ancestry?

#CB//78 #WFH59 #StuckAtHomeDay/108 #StayHome #BeKind  

Do I have Italian Genes?

I am the youngest in my generation in our clan -- both sides. Being the youngest has it's advantages and disadvantages. As the youngest you have the bunso privilege and you can kinda get away with a lot of stuff. The disadvantage is missing meeting the elders of the family. I grew up only knowing my Mama Lola since my other grandparents passed on even before I was born. I spent a lot of time with my Mama Lola growing up, but I really didn't get to ask her a lot of questions.

I would have loved to know my lolos and my Dad's mother, Lola Natalia. Because of this I've taken a keen interest on understanding my ancestry a bit better. I know from my Dad that his parents had eloped because at that time Filipino-Chinese marriages were not allowed. I never met any relative from Lola Natalia's side.

I had found a painting in a museum in San Pablo that looked a lot like her. I took a photo of it and showed it to my Dad. He said it was her. I reached out to the museum, but they never responded to me. One of the caretakers said that it was the aunt of the owner, but they didn't know where she was already. So that remains a mystery to me.

One of my cousins has our full family tree. I only found out last night that it was given to Tito Ben by an ambassador from Mexico who told him they were related. My cousin told us last night that someone from Italy reached out to him and said he had family who had migrated to Spain (the Mexico) and the Philippines. I always thought our clan was originally from Spain, it never occurred to me that there was a precursor from that.

My Mama Lola and Papa Lolo. 

This is all new to me and of course my cousin said to be cautious about taking it as fact because we still need to make sure that this person who reached out to him is real. I told him that this information is really interesting because it explains why a number of us have thalassemia (Mediterranean anemia) and why I can eat spaghetti every single day. And probably why I had that same feeling of being at home when I visited Rome (it was the exact same feeling when I visit Taiwan). Maybe it was my genes getting all excited.

I'm still thinking whether it would make sense to ask my cousin to introduce this person to all of us (and whether it's safe). It's just good to know a bit more about where we all came from. My cousin said that the family branches in Spain, Italy and Mexico all used similar names and had very similar professions as well. It would be interesting to someday meet long-lost relatives for both sides of my family.

What do you think?


#CB/70 #StuckAtHomeDay100 #StayHome #BeKind   

Ancestors

I've always been curious about my ancestors because I only got to meet one grandparent - my Mama Lola, unless you count my Papa Lolo's surprise ghostly visit to me when I was 4 years old. He was in full white military uniform and since he was smiling at me I started chatting with him. I was just a kid, so it did not occur to me that he was visiting me from heaven in San Francisco! He's only done that to me and my nephew, Gabby.

Sometimes I feel short-changed because I did not have the opportunity to be dotted on by my other grandparents. My Mama Lola though made up for it because I was always at her side. She spoiled me and they say that I am very much like her -- loves bags, sewing (I used to when I was a kid), and eccentric. I loved spending time with her and oftentimes drove her crazy. She left us though when I was 12.

I learn a little about my ancestors during (maternal) family gatherings. My cousin, Kuya Koko, presented during one Christmas reunion our family crest and showed our family tree which was traced from Spain. Recently, during my Tito Mon's funeral I learned that his namesake went back to Europe during war time and never came back. I have little knowledge on my paternal ancestors. I only know that my grandparents eloped and had 9 children, my Dad being the youngest. I also know that both my Lolos were hunks!

And that's probably why I've always been fascinated with the movie "Back to the Future" and originally wanted to take up archeology in college. I've always wanted to learn more about my ancestors. Their quirks, favorite food, what they did for a living and if I'm like them in any way. I don't want to learn about it though through ghostly appearances! I do appreciate though that my Papa Lola visited me, my nephew said he looked exactly the same when I saw him (he just recognized him when he saw a photo by accident). Too bad I don't think anyone of time liked writing because we haven't found any old diary lying around!

Anyway, I'm writing this for the sake of Miguel and my nephews and nieces in case they become curious to find out more about their ancestry. Hopefully when my cousin comes back from the US I can get a copy of our family tree from him. Well, someday I'll meet them when it's time for me to party up there.

And if, by chance, this gets read by my future grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Hello! You're lucky I like writing hehehe.

*First photo - Francisco and Merced Enrile (Papa Lolo and Mama Lola)
**Second photo - Ramon T. Enrile Sr. (June 24, 1863 - January 15, 1924) and Paulina Soler de Enrile (April 29, 1866 - August 19, 1937)