Can you think of somebody you used to look up to? Or still look up to? For the longest time and still today I look up to my great grandmother. Her name was Pilar Gundlach, but I called her Lola, which means “grandmother” in Filipino. She was born on October 11, 1933 in Pampanga, Philippines. My grandmother went through a heavy amount of difficulties as a child. She was born during World War II and was a pre-teen through the Japanese occupation. After meeting my great grandfather and quickly marrying him at twenty six years old, she followed him all over the world. He was in the Air Force and fought in the Vietnam War. Because of having to constantly change bases, they lived everywhere from Japan to all across America and the Philippines. My
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When I was a child, my Lola surrounded me with presents, camping, “tea time” (we really used soda), and so much of the delicious Filipino food she grew up with. But, as I got older, she would strive to construct me into a proper young woman. Instead of playing in the dirt outside, it was learning how to dance. She would teach me how she maintained her garden and tell me to start growing my own vegetables. It also started the early lectures of that I need to go to college so I can have a good lifestyle when I become an adult. While at the time I may have taken offense to everything she was forcing me into, I now understand and appreciate it. When my grandmother was a child she was forced into being a strong woman. She lived through the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, where her sister got taken away along with a variety of her friends. Pilar had to leave her home behind. Her entire family had to hide in a mountain, where the Japanese would not find them. Forced into stealing food out of others gardens, and even to the extent of eating insects just to stay well enough to live. She was forced to mature early in her life, and she was trying to prepare me for the hardships to come. My grandmother made my childhood a very fun one, but as I got older, she tried to teach me about the real world that would hit me as an adult. She cared about the person I was going to become, whether she was going to be there to see me or
When I was a child, my Lola surrounded me with presents, camping, “tea time” (we really used soda), and so much of the delicious Filipino food she grew up with. But, as I got older, she would strive to construct me into a proper young woman. Instead of playing in the dirt outside, it was learning how to dance. She would teach me how she maintained her garden and tell me to start growing my own vegetables. It also started the early lectures of that I need to go to college so I can have a good lifestyle when I become an adult. While at the time I may have taken offense to everything she was forcing me into, I now understand and appreciate it. When my grandmother was a child she was forced into being a strong woman. She lived through the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, where her sister got taken away along with a variety of her friends. Pilar had to leave her home behind. Her entire family had to hide in a mountain, where the Japanese would not find them. Forced into stealing food out of others gardens, and even to the extent of eating insects just to stay well enough to live. She was forced to mature early in her life, and she was trying to prepare me for the hardships to come. My grandmother made my childhood a very fun one, but as I got older, she tried to teach me about the real world that would hit me as an adult. She cared about the person I was going to become, whether she was going to be there to see me or