Eulogy for my Nana

Two months ago nana and I were riding home in the car and my heart was heavy with worry and sadness. The doctor had just told us that everything would not be alright for my nana and the end may be looming near. We drove home in silence and I struggled to come to grips about what a world without my nana would look like. Engrossed in sadness I looked over to nana in the passenger side. I immediately noticed her frantic hand motions as she raised her fingers to her mouth. Nana was urgently trying to lower the widow on the passenger side so that she could whistle at a nearby shirtless jogger!

"Nana!" I said shaking my head and laughing, " I think only one of us is taking this seriously!"

The truth was, my nana always tried to see the best out of every situation in life. The first time my nana fought cancer she said she was afraid, but by the second and third time my nana confessed that she trusted the Lords timing and was at peace with the plan he had for her life. No man can keep you from God and no man can send you to God before your time was ready.

My nana always had a lot of faith in God and reached out to churches wherever she was at. She always kept illustrated bibles at her house that she would read to us from. She encouraged us to allow God to be a part of our lives. My nana also kept scandalouso VC Andrews books in the house that including Flowers in the Attic but I guess that's besides the point.

And while my nana always nurtured a walk with God in all if us, my nana never confused religion with relationships with God. As the story goes my nana found God whoever she was at. If she was nearest a baptist church then under the water a 'babtising she would go, if she was attending a Catholic Church then she would repeat the rosary three times. If the charismatic church came a calling then nana would speak in tongues and roll around on the floor praising God and waving her hands. The church wasn't just a building but it was about the people.

The important part for my nana was reaching out to others and getting involved. She was a passionate person and sitting on the sidelines of life was never an option. I will never forget as we sat down nana once told me a story of a man who's wife left him alone with eight children to care for in Mexico. Nana was collecting items to take to the children to help relieve the man of his heavy burden. She looked at me and said very seriously and slowly, " In this life money comes...money goes...money comes...money goes...". I understood what she was trying to tell me. Money was such a temporary thing and if I wanted happiness in this life I shouldn't place it on the temporary joys of material things. True life was about investing in people not collecting paper sheets. Two weeks later I understood nana's words about money going away when i got in a car accident and my money sure went alright.

That story was key for me. As I looked around nana's house I realized she kept boxes and boxes of what appeared to be useless objects. It was a life long habit my nana had of collecting things. It always made me laugh looking at her mountain of boxes. As kids we used the clothes as dress up and played with all the objects inside as toys. It wasn't until that moment and that story that it finally clicked for me. They weren't always the same boxes. All the items in the boxes were constantly changing. Like clockwork my nana made trips to Mexico every 3-6 months where she would take her latest collection of clothes, toys, and household objects to give to those in need. My nana would hitchhike, take a bus, ask a neighbor for a lift...whatever nana had to do to ensure those boxes got delivered. Then she would return and start collecting all over again. It was a lifelong commitment for my nana -- to provide to those who did not have much.

In the later years of my Nana's life she began to get sick from traveling the long distance between here and Mexico. Every time she came back from Mexico she would spend a week in bed laid up. Fever, coughing, exhaustion. But still she persisted. Finally one day this year she realized her body was giving out and the trips were taking too much out of her. She looked at me and said "No more, I will begin to get rid of the boxes." True to her word she stopped going down to Mexico and her unofficial shipping business came to an end. Although let's be honest she kept collecting random stuff in boxes until the very end. She could never get out of the habit even though all of my Tios and Tia's have tried! It was like an episode of hoarders!

My nana was never an angel in this life. Which is one of the things I loved about her. She was passionate, headstrong, stubborn and could be brutally honest. When a neighborhood kid asked her what nana thought about her new Dora backpack my nana replied, "The backpack is beautiful but what are you going to do about your hair. It looks like you are running around like wild jungle animal. You shouldn't be running around with hair like that. Tell your mom I said to fix it. But I like your backpack." Needless to say the young girl walked away confused clutching her Dora backpack.

Once when I was very young, my brother and I were playing outside and my nana made us promise that we would be back before sundown. But we were having a good time with our friends so of course we didn't show up back home until extremely late way past sundown. Nana was very upset and openly chastised us that the devil was going to punish us for being bad kids. As we lay in bed that night my brother and I began to see shadows on the wall from eerie trees that looked like the hand of Satan reaching out right to get us. Screaming and yelling we ran to nana's room. "Nana! The devil is outside he is trying to get us!" we shouted. Nana lifted her head and pointed to get out of the room. "We'll that's what you bad kids get. If the devil doesn't take you then maybe I will see you in the morning!" And with that she shooed us out of the door. As my brother and I lay huddled in the center of the bed crying we vowed to never disobey nana again.

There is so much more I wish I had time to share about my nana because I loved her deeply. She was silly and fun and always looked for ways to make people laugh. She didn't mind acting like a clown as long as everyone had a good chuckle. Coming home from a party I once asked nana if she had a nice time. "I had a very good time," she said " I was able to make lots of people laugh and that makes me happy...and I didn't even have to use any cuss words!!!" She said.

I want to leave you with one final story. A story about the sustenance of God who always provided for my nana. She never had a million dollars but she always had what she needed. This story takes place during a hike in mexico. Nana had taken my brother and I for a hike with each of us only carrying our water canteens. As the sun rose it began to get hotter but onward we went up to the top of the moutain. Soon we reached it's peak and we were exhausted and hungry. "Nana!" we shouted " We are hungry and we have nothing to eat!" Our dusted covered faces were frowning in frustration. Nana looked around carefully surveying the area. "Do you guys want oranges? " Nana asked in a sweet voice. "Nana!" we both shouted, not wanting to play games, " You didn't bring any oranges!" We pouted and crossed our arms not happy with our situation. Then like magic... Nana reached on one side of her bra and and pulls out an orange. Then she reaches in at the other side of her bra and pulls out a other orange. Un milagro! A miracle! Some say my nana never had much in the life but she always had a house filed with love.