Unexpected Wealth

Unexpected Wealth

          It was our vacation at my mother's grandmother's town when something spectacular happened to my life. I didn't know that that spectacular will shake my life. Even my family made a complex situation. How? It all started when I was dusting off the precious garage of my mother's grandmother.

Vacation in Care ( pronounced as ka-re), Tarlac City 

          Today is the day we're going to visit my beloved grandmother. I call her apu. I don't know what does that mean but my apu really like us her grandchildren calling her that. By the way, she's aged already. Well, my grandmother is my mother's grandmother. I expect that everyone will be shocked if they hear me say that my mother's grandmother is still alive and I'm not lying.  She's 102 years old. Lucky her. I want to live long like her. Based on my mother's stories about apu, she lived happily and still living with delight in her heart. She's really old and I am sad that the reality might hit me that one day she'll eventually cease. I love her so much. And I always anticipate on going to her house. This is it! My waiting has finished and I am going to see her now.
         
         When we got there, I saw the giant gates in front of us. It is rusted, some parts of it crooked but you can perceive that these gates had been through a lot. My apu doesn't have any bodyguards but she has maids and they are the one who opened the gates. There's no fountain or fancy car in front of the house but in the front wall underneath, there carved some historic events. Apu preserved those. She said to me that those carved events are really precious especially to their ancestors. Their ancestors are the one that is carved on the wall, I mean our ancestors. Then after that, the big wooden door which has aged too will welcome you. I still remember when I came here for the first time, I can't hold the knob because I can't reach it so I have to wait for my parents first to open the door. The maids are busy preparing to surprise us that's why no one was opening the door. 

          The house or mansion will not give you a spooky feeling unlike when you enter other old mansions. It has a friendly look in it and you will feel comfortable. As we enter the mansion, a feast was the first thing you'll see. The big table is pulling us over to munch the delicious foods it is serving. But of course, for me, apu is the priority even though I am arguing with my own stomach. I'm heading to the room of my apu. There's no second or third floor in this house. It is just a long and wide house. Then I saw apu's room door. Her room is the finest of all the room in the mansion. I knocked and afterward I enter. She knows that it's me when someone has opened her door without her permission. I saw her looking outside the window sitting in her rocking chair. Antiques are everywhere. From the beads she has received when she was a little and up to the bed her weak body she had and will lean to. I called her and she looked at me. Smile has drawn into her wrinkled face. Signs of aging are perceived in her. She's beautiful.     

             I said hi to her and kissed her. I call her apu while she calls me apo which means grandchild. " Oh apo, how are you? I missed you a lot." she cheerfully said despite having a raspy voice. " I am doing well apu. I missed you a lot too. Have you been bored without me?" I asked her. "Of course I am!. I've been waiting for you for a long time. The maids here don't really know how to entertain me unlike you" she answered. " What did you do then?" I replied. " I just sit here in the window and reminisce the time when we are together or when the time when I was a little" she responded. My heart broke into pieces hearing her words. " I'm sorry apu for not visiting you earlier. Tatay (father) and Nanay (mother) just won't drive onto you." I sadly mumbled. " It's alright apo. I understand you just please let's be happy today okay?. I might pass away anytime and I want to spend time with my favorite and best granddaughter first before that happens" she innocently said to me and I uttered angrily and pleading " No, no, no don't say that apu. I will visit you always I promise just please don't say that okay?" I'm almost crying but she just smile and told me this. " We don't hold our lives apo. We don't know if when our time is up but at least I know that I'm happy before I'll die and that's what is important. So before I say goodbye to you I want you to go to the garage and go to the lowest cabinet and there you will see a little door Open it you will see something in there. Please keep those treasures and if you want to use them when you're in need then use it." 

             That's the last things she said to me and then she went to her bed and sleep. I'm not sure if what she's saying is true but I want to check it. I went to the garage that night when all of my relatives and family have fallen into sleep. I turn the switch on and some unuseful stuff are stacked in here. I head into the cabinets and I found the lowest one. I slowly opened it but I heard some thud on the floor.  And I stopped waiting for the thud to come to me. It has a fast thud. A dog. It was a dog! Oh my goodness I was so nervous! It was just Bruno, my grandmother's beloved dog. After that, I continued looking for the treasures. I opened the cabinet and I saw the little door grandmother is talking about. I removed the metal that keeps it locked and there I saw a box of money. Old money. They are in a bunch and behind the box is a small chest. It contains jewelry but there is something more important than that. A photo.The photo of my apu and her husband, my grandfather which I didn't have a chance to see. I just heard him in the stories of my grandma and they really love each other. I teared up. The treasure is not the money but the photo. It is worth more than the box of money. This photo carries a million memories. And I am sure that I'll cherish it forever.