Memories of Lit'l Ish by Mia Lowry

When Jill and Ish were expecting their firstborn son they were living in Tucson. We were already living in Phoenix at the time. So, I feel lucky that I was present at his birth too. My first nephew. I was really excited. Now I can't remember if we knew he was a boy before his birth, but I remember Mom telling me she was sure it was a boy.

The waiting room was a typical cold type of hospital waiting area with that smelly hospital odor. It seemed to take a long time for her to have the baby for us, and I can only imagine how it felt for Jill. Mom was in the room with her and Ish while she was delivering. She said that Ish kept going in and out of her until he finally came out. The result was a misshaped head. I can still remember my horror when I saw that distinct cone shaped head. I thought he was going to be like that forever, but after shushing me (I was being loud. I was freaking out over his head.) she explained it was normal. I did not believe her and I now know she was right because Ish has a normal head.

Wow! Was he ever a rambunctious child! I can still remember how he got into EVERYTHING as soon as he could move. I am not exaggerating about the EVERYTHING! He got Sergio's cassette tapes once and pulled out all of the tape. I can't remember how many he destroyed before he was caught. One thing for sure was that if you could not hear him making a sound, he was up to something and/or something was about to be destroyed.

He got into my Mom's powder and made her dresser white. He would pull out dishes, pots and pans or whatever he could out of the kitchen. He would run around the house and smash his little body and head into the washing machine (it was in the kitchen at the time). Then he'd laugh, get up and run around and back into it again.

When Mom tried to get him to nap and his eyes would start to close he would get up, move or do whatever he could to keep from taking a nap. If he was in trouble and Mom was about to punish him, he would laugh and laugh until my Mom laughed too. He was such a cute baby. He was loads of fun, but he sure did keep you on your toes. He was never grumpy and he never complained even when he was sick or you woke him up from the 'once in a while' naps he took.

It is funny to see Ish now around kids and he complains at their energy when he was the king of them all. He is good with little children and you can tell he loves his little nieces and nephews. Ish loves his family and loves spending time with them. I can recall how he would call me to ask him to take him to the movies. Two movies stand out in my mind. One was a good pick and one was, well, I got a lecture from my brother Ish about taking him to see it (which I knew was coming). The first one was "There is Something About Mary" and the other was "SuperStar" with Molly Shannon. I was thankful Meghan fell asleep on the 'Mary' movie, but Ish had some questions about it that I luckily (learned from the master-My Mom) deflected giving an answer. I knew he was going to ask his dad about it and I knew I was going to hear about it. Why I did not walk out was beyond me? This was not a good aunt moment for me. I am still surprised Ish let me take his kids out to another movie after this bad choice.

The other movie has nice memories for me. I can recall Ish laughing so hard, actually, he was the only one laughing for quite some time. I really do enjoy watching movies with my nephew, especially horror flicks and comedies. As a kid, he really liked comedies. I enjoyed them even more with him because of his reaction and laughter. :)

My wedding was not a fun time for him. He told me that he thought Glenn was going to take me away. We had a picture of Glenn and I at my wedding and people could sign it. Here is what he wrote at the time....."Ish Jr. call we won't proble see you that much by Ish." (When we told him of our move to NC, he said, see I knew he would take you away from us one day. *sad face*)However, he did in fact see plenty of us. There was the kid's apartment. The summer he, Meghan and Vanessa or was it wintertime, well, I can't recall when it was exactly, but they made a movie for Vanessa's seminary class. Such a funny movie that was made at 2 am. I can still hear how they complained about Ish's complaining on their walk home from Alberstson's. The girls: Vanessa, Jovanni, Alex and Meghan had loaded their arms up with grocery bags while Ish was just carrying a gallon of milk. He, according to the girls, whined about it all the way home.

Later that day, we got out my pilates DVD and exercised. He did a few of them (3 kicks, actually) then started to complain about how hard it was to do. We continued exercising. He opened a bag of chips, watched us and critiqued us on how unlike the video we looked. At the time the girls (all 4 of them) wanted to brutalize him. During this particular visit, they decided it would be fun to whip Meghan and Alex while asleep with the cat toy and tickle them with the feather. I am pretty sure this was Ish's idea and the girls, Jovanni and Vanessa, just went along with it. How they tortured poor Meghan and Alex! At one point I had to have them sleep with me in my room. Glenn was working in Tucson for 2 weeks while they were visiting.

I can still remember how shocked I was when he began working at Sonic. I never thought he would work at a fast food joint, but when he got the job at the bank I knew that this was more up his alley. I am proud of how hard working he is in school and work. There are many more memories I have of him, but I will have to write them at a future date. Hopefully, I won't repeat myself.

Lucia's Funny Sayings....

OK, so you all know my Spanish is pretty much garbage. Well, if it's misspelled, please feel free to correct it.

***"Manana a las deis." Translation "Tomorrow at 10 o'clock" meaning..."not going to happen"

***"Cuenta me uno de vacero" Translation "Tell me a cowboy story" meaning...."yeah, that story is bogus"

***"No, es de los vecinos" Translation "No, this belongs to the neighbors" meaning....well, it's basically, her sarcastic reply to the question, "Who __________ is this?"

Photos

Eek! Sheesh! I did not realize how little time I have before this Christmas. I am not going to procrastinate this any more and I have to make sure I gift this to you all this year. Where did my time go? Ay! Curse you facebook! I need to stay away from it and dedicate my time to this blog. I have hardly any pictures in here. I need to start uploading them. I know that Tonie has tons and Mom and ay, I have 4 boxes of pictures. I know I need every one's help on this project. I only hope you all will have time to e-mail pictures: I need some from each of the 8 branches of children. I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now. Plus, I still need to decorate for Christmas and send out 3 letters with the picture of this blog, not to mention I need to figure out how to make a copy of the blog header for my envelope gift. I am sending one to Tonie's since Christmas will be at her house this year (from what Mom told me), Abel's and Steve's. Tonie will open it up for Rodrigo, Ish, Sergio, Suzie, Tonie, Mom and all the grand kids.

Some Memories of Jovanni by Mia Lowry

I can still remember the day Jovanni was born as if it was yesterday. Liz looked so uncomfortable, but to me she still looked great. I was very excited as this was the day I would become an aunt. I had already made up my mind that all my nieces and nephews were going to call me Auntie Lucia. I laugh at this now because I am just Tia now, but I don't mind it.

I remember coming up from Yuma to visit and as luck would have it Jovanni came that weekend. It was a Saturday when she was finally born. I am not sure if we came up intentionally or by chance. We were to be moving to Phoenix the next weekend. I was not happy about the move, but the only positive was getting to see more of this baby girl.

I can still see Liz sitting in that long red caddy Rodrigo drove in those days. She had gone to the hospital, but they told her it was not time and she needed to walk. I have to admit now how insensitive I was on this day. I kept asking her why it was taking so long, but ever so kind, Liz did not get upset with me. What a brat! I would probably have gone off on some dumb kid who asked me that during labor. She endured and had to have an emergency C-Section. I had never seen a newborn before, but when Rodrigo came out holding her. I instantly knew I would love her forever. It was such a happy day for the Briones and Villanueva family. I can still picture her perfect little round head. I couldn't wait to hold her in my arms even if the idea scared me a bit.

Then I found out my Mom was going to take care of her when Liz went back to work. Oh, happy day! I would get to see her every morning before school and after school. It was fun for me to finally have my Mom babysit someone I actually wanted in the house. Mom/Nana babysat her until she was in the 1st grade, I think. I was sad when Mom couldn't babysit her anymore. I think it was due to her health. However, that did not exclude her from my life. We would often go to the movies. Sometimes just us and other times with Little Ish too. We'd drive away in that Red Ford of Dad's and go to the Harkins in ghetto Phx. 67th and McDowell

Oh, and the news came Liz and Jovanni were moving to Yuma. What a terrible day this was for us! I thought I would never see her again, but luckily I was wrong. During the summer she would come to visit us in Phx. Sometimes during the holidays too. It was fun times. Then there was my wedding and her unhappiness about the whole affair. If I remember correctly she and Ish thought Glenn was going to take me away from the family. Which of course turned out to be wrong....proven by what was known to be called 'The Kid's Apartment'. I had them for such a long time living with me: Jovanni, Vanessa, Ish, Alex and Meghan. They have such happy memories of almost burning it down, getting me possibly evicted by the knocked down light pole and/or the swimming in the waterfall areas, and who knows what other mischief they caused. Now as a parent I wonder how any of their parents could have ever trusted me with their children. Ay!

She moved in with Tonie and I was happy she was back in Phx area. Things worked out for the good in the end and she moved in with Glenn, the kids and I. Many memories were shared during these years. I can't recall them at this time, but will at another date.

Memories Of My Big Brother Sergio by Mia Lowry

For as long as I can remember Sergio was a joker in the family. When we were little girls he was the one who played with us the most. I can still remember some of the games we played. One game that sticks out the most is when we played 'Animals'. Suzie, Tonie and I would always pick cutesy furry animals (of course, we are girls, what do you expect?) such as a bunny, kitty, deer, etc..Sergio, however, would choose a lion, tiger or bear (no pun intended here).

We would pretend to be these gentle creatures in the forest and suddenly, the ferocious beast Sergio was emulating would come upon us to devour us. Sometimes he would not know when to stop and freak us out (on purpose, I am sure) until we would say, "OK, OK, you ate us! You ate us! Game over!" Well, he wouldn't stop the first time, but more like the seventh or eighth time we would say these words.

I remember once how we were wrestling and he knocked out my tooth. There was blood all over our green blanket. Why I ever thought that playing with an older brother was OK is beyond me?

Another moment of trickery was when we, girls, were folding our laundry. It was a cool evening and we had the window open. The light from the street streaming into our room. When suddenly we heard a mysterious heavy breathing coming from the window and an evil laugh. Somehow he managed to cast his shadow (intentional or not, I don't know) into our room and all we knew was that a man was laughing at our window. Tonie, who was quick on her feet (it's no wonder she works for 911) got the closest thing she could to defend us and began to whack the window mercilessly. What did she get? A pair of panties. I am sure she was going to bludgeon him to death with those underwear if not die trying. :)

Then there was the time I had to go out and hang my towel in the backyard to dry. He came and kicked the aluminum (from the shed, the door of it) fence meant to keep the dog in the yard. Some protector that dog turned out to be! It yelped all the way behind the dryer and left me alone to fend for myself against this unseen villain. After I gained control over my hysterical screaming, and froze in fear, he came out to let me see it was him.

He did this to me another time when I was taking the trash out at night, but this time he was in a tree. He was hooting like an owl. Now let it be known (even if she does deny it now, she did in fact tell me this) Mom had put a fear in me of owls. She told us owls will come down and pluck out your eyes to eat them. So, when I went to take out the trash at night as a routine before bedtime up above in a tree I heard the hooting of an owl. I froze and closed my eyes tightly. I did not want my eyes to be plucked from my head. Then after a few hoots I heard a laughter to what sounded to me like the cackling of the devil himself. I screamed and started to cry. He jumped down from the tree, and I wish I could say this did not scare me more, but it did. I know he felt bad about it, but in bouts of laughter he asked if I was OK. I guess I looked pretty scared.

There was never a dull moment with Sergio in the house. He was always up to something. Trying to trick Mom or Dad and us girls. You always knew when he was home or coming home because he made himself known that is, unless he was about to get you with one of his practical jokes. I wish I could remember all of the pranks he did to us, but they are so many to recall and my memory is fading.

I do, however, remember how one time we started a fire in the front yard. It was fun, but it got out of hand. If I remember correctly we put lighter fluid onto it and it jumped higher than I was tall at the time. It's a wonder how Mom ever survived his childhood (well, all of us for that matter).

The one thing I remember that freaked me out more than any of his pranks was when we, Mom and I, drove to Phoenix to see him in the hospital when he was 19. He had surgery on his nose and he looked like he was beat up. I could still picture him lying there in bed. Suddenly, his eyes popped open, he jumped up and ran towards the bathroom mirror. I had to run behind him to push his IV as Mom was worried it would come out of his hand. Later, Mom told me how hard it was for her to see him like that and how scared he made her when he jumped out of bed.

One thing about Sergio you should always remember that beneath his gruff exterior (the persona he puts out there) he has a soft heart under it all. I am grateful to have him as a brother. I remember the times we had at the First Phoenix Apostolic Church and Glendale Church and how people would either ask me: "Are you twins?" Twins! He is way older than me. Ugh! Do I look that old? I would wonder. "Where's your boyfriend?" What boyfriend? "The one you come to church with?" Ugh! That is my brother! Sick! "Oh, I am sorry."

I remember when he was choir director at Glendale and Kelli May and I would be cutting up. He was such a tough director. He would get so mad at me and expected me to be an example because I was his sister, but I couldn't be anything more than his bratty kid sister. I can still remember the look he would give us. It was much like the look Dad use to give us at church during the sermons in Yuma.

I am grateful I am blessed with my brother Sergio. He was and always will be not only my brother, but a friend. I love him dearly as I love all of my family and miss them so much.

Ismael Haro Villanueva by Mia Lowry

My big brother Ish is the 2nd born of the family. When I think back of our life in Yuma....I remember football jerseys, cowboy boots, and an old Ford truck.

He was very protective (and still is) of his family. I remember one time when this little girl from another block came over with her dad because Abel had been teasing her. He came over to settle the score. If I remember correctly Rodrigo, Abel and I were outside and the man was yelling. Ish came out of the house hollering, "What's going on out here???"

The little girl wasn't sure if it was Abel or Ish who had been teasing her, but her dad was scared out of his mind when Ish came out. He changed his tune and left. Ish told Abel that he better leave her alone because he did not want to have to beat up that man. So, that was the end of that problem.

He was a chronic teaser. I have no doubts that Sergio, Steve, Abel and the rest got their "teasing skills" from Ish. He paved the road for them with Mom and Dad. Dad was always the easy target and Mom was their four leafed clover when it came to getting it over on them with a joke.

One memory I have that I'll cherish forever is how he stood up for me when I wanted to move out. He was my lawyer to Dad and if it wasn't for him I would have never had the chance to know what it was like to live on my own.

I can still remember how he had to hold his hand from hitting the doctor or nurse during Lit'l Ish's birth. He did not like how they were handling him after just being born. However, months later I remember scolded him as he tried to rope his baby with a cowboy rope.

In my last months in Glendale, I had the pleasure of living next door to him and his family. I got to teach his daughter, Meghan for a 1 1/2. He would help me with my lawn when I was pregnant with Scarlett. He is a good brother. I am grateful to have him in our family. I have learned a lot about being a parent from him and I am thankful he is my brother.

Rodrigo Haro Villanueva by Mia Lowry

Rodrigo is the oldest of the family. My memories of him include the drums, singing and watching him work in the Apostolic Church. I can still remember coming home from school to hear him playing his drums. You could hear them from a block away. When you'd enter his room you could see him with his headphones rocking his head to and fro as he listened to various musicians to perfect his skill.

Looking around his room you could see the results of his other talent-art. He could draw almost anything. I can still picture his replica of an Andre Crouch album of a beach scene. It was amazingly beautiful. I think he is the only one in our family that perfect the art of drawing.

I remember seeing him suit up to go to work at Johnny's Men's Wear in Yuma after school. From what I can remember he was a good worker and salesman. He earned money and purchased his own car....I believe it was a Monte Carlo...gray. He would wash and clean out that car every weekend.

I remember him leaving on his dates. The one I remember the most was when he took my older sister Mary and I to see the circus. We got to ride an elephant. I can't remember who the girl was that went with us, but I sure do remember how he was excited to take us. How much care and excitement he took into ensuring we had a good time. It was a good time. I can still remember how the elephant felt and how scared I was to be on it. I wish we had taken a picture of this moment, but it will forever be embedded in my memory.

I can still picture him on his wedding day. It was a nice wedding that was held in our Yuma house backyard. He married the mother, Elizabeth Briones, of his only daughter, Elizabeth Jovanni Villanueva. I can still see his face when he came out of the delivery room holding his little girl. He had the biggest smile, eyes moist with tears of joy and a laugh that would not stop. I still remember being frustrated because he would not tell us if Jovanni was a girl or a boy. He is the only man I can recall who wanted a girl instead of a boy. This idea still baffles me since most men would rather have a son than a daughter.

Everyone wanted to hold Jovanni, but he wouldn't have it. He refused his own mother's request to hold her first grand baby. This was how happy and excited he was to have a little girl....his baby. It was such a happy day for all of us.

His life has not been an easy one and I know he is currently working on writing it all down. I hope one day he does get it published. Currently, he is attending college and I have never been more proud of him. I hope he continues and finds a job he will enjoy. I can honestly say that my life has been blessed because of his and I am happy, proud and glad to call him brother.