Mamalaya is the name of my father's mother. She passed away a month ago.
I have only met her once, back in the summer of 1992. This was during a trip me, my dad and my brother took to see my dad's side of the family in Mexico. I was 11 years old back then.
Unfortunately, I have never seen her since then. She was unable to visit us in Hawaii. And I haven't been able to visit Mexico since then.
I was invited to come with my dad (along with mom, my maternal grandma, my brother, his wife and kids) to visit Mexico back in March 2007! The problem was I just couldn't afford to miss work.
My dad did mention that we can take a trip together to Mexico in the future. However, if I'm invited, I'll probably just go for a few days only. Even though it's too late to see Mamalaya again, I would like to at least meet my other Mexican relatives before it is too late.
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My father and Mamalaya are both from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, which is located in the southwest part of the country. Oaxaca has a reputation as a state with a mostly poor, rural, indigenous population. You can sort-of compare it to Oahu's Waimanalo or the continental US rural Native American communities.
Mamalaya is of pure native Mexican ancestry, in her case, from the Zapotec tribe.
She married a member of Mexican military, who we called "Papa Poncho." Papa Poncho is of Spanish ancestry, and he was from the Mexican state of Jalisco. So you could easily say that Mamalaya and Papa Poncho coming together is having people from 2 different worlds coming together.
My father had more of the Zapotec physical features from his mom, whereas his sibling had more of the Spanish physical features from their dad.
Being that Papa Poncho was in the Mexican military, the family moved around a lot, never staying in one town for too long. While they spent most of my dad's childhood in Oaxaca, they later moved to Papa Poncho's hometown of Guadalajara, Jalisco.
For a long time, Mamalaya remained in Guadalajara, even after Papa Poncho passed away in 1989.
[side note: I did meet Papa Poncho once back in 1988 when he visited Hawaii. He passed away a year later]
In her later years, while she still lived in that home in Guadalajara, she still spent some time in her home state of Oaxaca.
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As I mentioned before, I have only met Mamalaya back when I was a pre-teen back in 1992. Unfortunately, Mamalaya have never seen me during my adulthood, though I'm sure she got some updates on my life from my father.
Being that I am so far away, circumstances have made me distanced from my relatives in Mexico. My father does visit Mexico every year, but the timing hasn't been right for me to take a visit.
It is my hope in the future that I will be able to re-visit my relatives in Mexico. Many of them have only seen my as a kid, have never seen me as an adult. Also, I have yet physically see Mexico from an adult point-of-view, whereas my visit to Mexico in 1992 was from a child's point of view.
Even if it's for a few days, it is my hope that my father and I will be able to find the right time when we both can visit Mexico together. Life is too short, and I hope the opportunity doesn't slip away.
