Celebrating Abuela

I never knew my grandparents.

We left Cuba when I was so very young that I barely remember my grandmothers. I think my dad's parents had already passed away by the time I was born. And I have just the few mental snapshots that a five year old can retain of my mom's mother.

Here's a beautiful old photo of her, my maternal grandmother, Osmunda Perez-Puelles when she was pregnant with my Tio Fernando. (Incidentally, Tio Fernando will be turning 100 in Miami next week.)

The only abuela I have ever known is this woman in this 100 year old photograph.

My mom says that maybe that's why I have always loved old people. And it's true. I am very aware of the richness of life that most older people have to impart to us "youngsters." That attracts me tremendously.

I hope to be that wise old woman myself to my (as yet, unborn) grandchildren someday.

It's from this perspective of not really ever having had a grandmother in my life that I worked on this beautiful project for Tiki Tiki Blog.

It's a fabulous collection of stories by seven women who fondly remember their grandmothers and share their reminiscences.

Tiki Tiki readers submitted photos of their grandmothers and I am extremely proud to say that I designed this cover and created this E-book, Celebrating Abuela. (I know. Shut up. Get the sandpaper...)

Of course, I also added the photo of my mom, Luza (left-hand side of cover), because she is the Quintescential Cuban Grandmother.

Please download your free copy of this 40 page book by clicking this link: Download Celebrating Abuela with Tiki Tiki.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you from me and my big, fat, Cuban family and from my good friend, Carrie at Tiki Tiki Blog. She's completely genius when it comes to collecting and editing these wonderful stories. (My job is just to make it all look pretty, but that's not important right now.)

And to those of you who still have her with you, celebrate your abuela.

Besos! ~Marta