an afternoon with Lola Bats

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Lola Bats is my dad's mom. She's the last grandparent alive and this year, she's entered her 96th year in April. She celebrated it with a pizza and pasta dinner and coffee (chocolate milkshake for me) in the nearby mall surrounded by her daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Unfortunately, she's not as strong as she used to be so she couldn't travel long distances as often as she liked anymore. Since she couldn't go to the farm just yet, I brought young coconuts for her, freshly harvested from the farm. I thought that it was the perfect pasalubong because of the hot weather (she could drink as much buko juice as she wanted... straight from the source too).

Anna and I dropped by to bring over the young coconuts and to catch up with her today, a holiday. As usual, this afternoon flew too fast. I enjoyed spending time with her because of all the stories about her younger days, the places she's been to (today, I just learned that she's been to Marcos, Ilocos because of the family tractor!), and lessons she's taken from her own grandma. Plus the food. I always look forward to eating pupur and bulanglang in her house.

It looked like Lola Bats enjoyed our visit as well. Until next time (which is in a few weeks)... hopefully, she'll be up for the road trip we keep on planning.

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