My Tita

I love my Tita.

As she is my mom's youngest sister and sibling, of course I love her.

This woman helped take care of me when I was a baby, a young child.  I still have many fond memories of her.

I knew her and my mom would get into arguments once in a while as sisters do.  It often felt that she was sometimes jealous of my mother, or maybe just that she wanted to be better than her.  And after I learned about how the uncle really felt about their union, I just felt really sad for her. 

After December 2007, I started receiving texts from her.  Most of them were about forgiveness, and all of them were based in religious dogma.

It hurt to know that she felt that I needed to forgive her husband, and that she would try to force that stuff on me.  I realized that perhaps she needed me to forgive him so that she could forgive him, so that she could "move on" and continue living her happy life.

If I remember correctly, I told her to please stop sending me those messages, and the messages stopped.

At some point, after almost two years of not hearing any reactions from my cousins, I realized that she was not planning to tell her sons anything.  She did not want them to hate their dad.

When I started opening up to my cousins, I got wind that she was angry at my efforts.  Why couldn't I just let it be?  Was I purposefully trying to make her sons resent their father?

She locked me out of her Facebook.  When I did see her, it was very awkward and brief - even at big family gatherings. 

Still, I'm hurt by her disapproval. 

Still, I feel sad and sorry about her reactions.

Still, I love my Tita.