Lola's love affair

A fellow grandmother likes to quote Anne Lindbergh when we're on the subject of grandchildren. I think the quote runs, "Grandchildren are the love affair of old age."

I quite agree, but when I do it is because I remember my own grandmother. I'm one of those who consider herself saved by the grandmother. When materialist and agnostic friends question whether there is a God or deny his/her existence, I just say to myself, not aloud ((I don't want to get into long-winded discussions on the subject), that I am sure there is a higher force  because I have seen, felt, known the kindness, the all-accepting love, the withheld judgment and unspoken forgiveness, the beauty and grandness of my grandmother.

One of the things I am doing this summer to keep my mind off the heat is to re-shoot photos from scrapbooks and albums that Lola had kept. She was 83 when she died in 1988. The earliest picture of her that I found was when she was 16.

Sweet 16 here. It must be the year 1921 if my math is right.

Lolo Lucky (Enrique Acosta Lolarga) and Lola Purang (Telesfora Cariño Lolarga) in their youth. Someone scrawled "Dad & Ma" on the picture; it must've been one of their five children. If Lola is partly leaning awkwardly, I think she was conscious of the fact that she stood a few inches taller than Lolo.

This grand-daughter is more than convinced that Lola hit her prime and came into her own when she was widowed young in 1955. Hence, the erect posture and the confident way she carried herself.

Becoming bigger than life. A Bob's Studio shot.

Today this is called retro chic. Back then she just looked oh so good. Still at the old Sampaloc house--I'm sure this was where this picture was taken because of that sticky linoleum mat and a vague memory of playing with those shells behind the thin curtain.

I don't know how long this self-imposed project will take me to finish (guess who's wishing for an endless summer?), but it's time to preserve the pictures through this blog--the scrapbooks' pages have become brittle and some pages are already torn.They're ready for the archives where the conditions are better for their preservation.

This is an easy one She dated it herself. Taken in 1958 at the living room of her Pepin street, Sampoloc, Manila, home. The golf trophies in the glass cabinets were won by her late husband. Other stuff in there were souvenirs from her tour of the US, Canada, Mexico and Europe.

 Frustration seeps in when I cannot date a photo. For the meantime, before I embark, little by little, on retracing a life, here are remembrances of Lola dearest with some  shots of her with her grandchildren. I will post more in the morrow.

With grandchildren at her former house in Sampaloc, Manila. That's Ferdie Romero on her lap, Sonny to her left. Behind her are Tessie Romero, Eileen Lolarga, Allyn Valdellon (partly hidden) and Toots Romero.

Lola was an amateur photographer. I think this snapshot in Camp John Hay, late '50s Baguio, is hers. From left are: Beng and Telly Valdellon, Eileen Lolarga, Mercy Leah Cariño and Allyn.

Everyone got tucked in by the beloved family elder who also made the crazy cat quilt partly covering  (from left) Mercy, Beng, Lily Ramirez, Toots and Rose.

With a young Rose, the eldest of her grandchildren

Wish this cutie would identify herself. Is that you, Pixie Lolarga? That's lola in the Brookside house's dining room.

Here we are on Lola's lawn. My brothers look preoccupied with their toys. Front row: Dennis, Suzy, our mom Nene, Babeth and Junic Lolarga. Second row: Mercy and Lola.

Baden Powell was where Lola and her first set of grandkids stayed in the '50s before she built a house on M. Roxas street, Lower Brookside, Baguio.

And there was her retirement house, then unpainted.