Dear Tito and Nita,
Thank you so much for sharing with me your children's gift. It is no mere read-it is a testimony of your love, which molded them. I couldn't have imagined them to be otherwise.
Here's what I wrote spontaneously in the reply box:
Dear Elaine,
Wonderfully written! No mere narrative, this story--it's insightful, unpeeling for the reader what she would want to find.
You are, indeed, Tito and Nita's children, obviously bouncing with their genes, which on top of these have been nurtured with much love. As someone who grew up literally at home in Bacarra with the Aligas, I could not but read through your memories with my own of the children I once knew. And I saw them quite vividly. Tito and his Sunday tennis? It brought back an image of Tata Alfons. Nita declaring her world as your dad, echoed Nana Floring, who without me hearing it nonetheless witnessed how she lived it. Your home turning into everybody's own--I felt that way in theirs, as perhaps many others did.
Your family is rich, this is an understatement. Your parents have achieved in forty years what many others failed in a lifetime.
Alegria Albano-Imperial
PS
Yes, it's Canada-cold here. But with proper layering, I'm braving it, sometimes even loving it.
My most in wishes I missed during the holidays. I flew to Baltimore on Christmas Eve as only then could I get a seat, and came back last week. The cold in the east is drier; in here, the wetness of it adds a frosty feeling.
Enjoy Valentine's Day, coming soon!
