Abuelo's Legacy

Today is Father's Day, and I am so grateful for the amazing men in my life. My husband supports me through the thick and thin of motherhood. My Dad loves me and my little family, and he is always so generous and helpful in our quest to create a successful life for ourselves. And I am so blessed to have had wonderful examples in my grandfathers as well.

​ Yesterday we were able to say our final goodbye to my Abuelo (my Dad's dad). It was a beautiful day and a beautiful service as we celebrated his life and the lessons he taught us. I wanted to share a few of the stories my dad told yesterday of his father and of the legacy he left.

​This is written from my Dad's perspective. 

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A Creative Man

My dad was a man of many professions. In his life, he was a fisherman, worked in the family-owned grocery store, a builder who formed his own business, and a creative inventor. I say inventor because Dad was always finding creative solutions to problems we faced. As a kid in Cuba, we didn't have treats, but sometimes we craved sugar. One day, Dad put an avocado in the blender, mashed it up, and put sugar in it. It was like he invented a sweet version of guacamole to satiate our sweet tooth that day.
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In Cuba one day, a kid from the neighborhood came out with a balloon that he had received from his family in the United States. All of the children in the neighborhood were so jealous. I went home to my mom and dad and told them that I wanted a balloon. "Ok," my Dad said, "let's get you a balloon." He went into his room and a few minutes later reappeared with a balloon on a stick. My sister and I were thrilled! Little did I know that he had taken a condom, cut the tip off and tied the end, blew it up and tied the other end to the stick. I ran out to show the other kids the balloon my dad had made my sister and I. We were the envy of the neighborhood! They all scurried around him and asked him to make them one too. "Go ask your mom and dad. They have balloons too," he shared with a smile.

A Service-Oriented Man

Dad loved his country. He dreamed of a free Cuba and he fought for that vision. Sadly, he and Mom could see that Castro's Cuba was not a happy place where they wanted their children to grow up. He sacrificed years of his life to work in the unforgiving heat of the sugarcane fields to earn Visas for his family to leave the country and immigrate to America. In those 33 months, he was only allowed to return to his family a for a few weeks. 

Knowing my dad was coming home, I anxiously awaited his return and a gift. Dad would always bring us a treat. Once it was fried bullfrog legs. Other times he would bring some stale pancakes wrapped in his handkerchief for me and my sister. These were treats he would purposefully save just to be able to bring them back home to his kids.  For me, it seemed like Dad was hanging out at a luxury resort since these were special goodies we never got at home. As a little 6 year-old boy, I didn't understand that these little treats were evidence of my dad's sacrifices for me as he worked tirelessly from sunup to sundown. 

A Hard Working Man

Coming to America, Dad didn't know anyone. He didn't know the language. He didn't have any money. But he knew how to work. He started working in construction and brought home $75 a week for our family of 4.  One day a woman from welfare contacted him and he told her that he had gotten a job in construction and hoped to be able to learn the trade.
"You can't work," she said. "If you work, you wont qualify for the welfare program and you and your family will lose all the benefits." 
He pondered this a moment and said, "Ok, remove welfare, but can we keep the Medicare in case my kids get sick?"
Her response was matter-of-fact, "Sorry, sir. It's all or nothing."
"Well," he said, "I did not come all the way from Cuba to sit in an apartment and wait for a check."

In that moment, my dad made a difficult decision. He kept his job and continued to work hard. He knew that he had traveled to the United States to provide for his family and he wanted to do that with his own two hands. He was an example of the value of hard work and of the power of the American Dream.

Through the years, he learned enough to be able to build his own business in construction. His company, Mayans Building (later became Mayans Development), still stands today and continues to bless the lives of his family and others. He believed in building quality and in working honestly. 

A Man of Faith and Love

Dad loved his family, but he didn't always show it in the ways you'd expect. He rarely vocalized his affection or showed it in hugs or kisses. When he started having grandkids, however, his heart seemed to expand, and he started showing his love to them with hugs to his grandsons or gifts of flowers to his granddaughters.  And when he got great-grandkids, his heart grew even more. He loved to watch them playing at his feet. He threw the baseball with his great grandson Jepson, and he watched his great granddaughter Cassidy put on a show and dance around whenever she'd visit. He truly loved his family.

He watched his grandchildren, Maichael and Benjamin, serve missions in Chile for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He admired their service, but it wasn't until his grandson, Jacob, served a mission in Romania and had very little success that his own heart changed. Hearing of Jacob's struggles, he exclaimed, "Why wont the people listed to him!" I responded, "Dad, you've had missionaries visit your home almost weekly for 40 years (Mom would always feed them lunch). Have you ever really listened to them?" That made my dad sit back quietly, but I was still shocked when the missionaries from the area called me about a month later and told me that my Dad had a date to be baptized. I had had no idea he was finally listening to the missionaries. I will always be grateful for the struggles my son, Jacob, had on his mission, because it was that struggle that softened Dad's heart so that he could finally accept the gospel of Jesus Christ in his own life.

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I love my Abuelo so much. I am grateful for his life and his legacy of hard work, family love, service, patriotism, and faith. I will miss him dearly, but I am so grateful for the knowledge I have of God's plan for eternal families. I know that death is not the end.

​Until we meet again, Abuelo