Dia 127 - Any 3 // Day 127 - Year 3

MaryAnn & Bob at Girona's Cathedral stairs circa 1991.

Let me tell you a little story.

A long time ago, my great grandfather {my grandma's father}, Gabino Gea Navarro, and my great granduncle, Raimon Gea Navarro, 

left Spain searching for a better future in the USA.

And they did find a better future. 

Years passed

and Raimon, my great granduncle, married a Portuguese woman and had children, 5.

And Gabino, my great grandfather, having left behind a wife and two daughters, started doing paperwork to bring the family {wife, daughters and now their own families} together.

When finally the paperwork was ready to bring the family together, he died. 

So my great grandmother, Maria, my grandmother, Manuela, and uncle Gabino, who was only a baby at the time, travelled by boat to the USA to bury him somewhere in Pennsylvania and then went back to Spain.

Fast forward to 1991, MaryAnn {one of Raimon's daughters and my grandma's cousin} came to visit us with her husband Bob.

Only a few months later, June 1st 1992, my grandma Manuela died.

I was only 4 years old when MaryAnn and Bob visited us,

so I don't remember their visit.

But I do remember growing up seeing this picture of them {above} and being told 

"They are your American cousins."

Years passed, and we continued to keep in contact.

I believe because of MaryAnn's effort to do so, since back then there were few of my family members who spoke English.

We could expect a Christmas Card from them every year to arrive at my grandfather's mail box.

Now, fast forward to June 2007.

My sister and I were traveling to New York City. 

I had no doubt that I wanted to do whatever possible to meet them, even though I knew they lived far from NYC. 

So I emailed MaryAnn telling her about our trip to NYC.

I was surprised to learn that during our stay, actually only one day after my arrival {my sister arrived one day before me}, on June 24th, almost all the family was meeting for a Family Reunion in New Haven, 

which is only an hour or so train ride from NYC.

We were invited.

Of course, we said YES!!! 

It was so great to meet almost all of our USA family that day.

I have great memories of that day.

The next year, Frank and his girlfriend, Kayleigh, came to visit us.

It was during exams period and I coudn't spend as much time as I would have liked to, but still it was so great to see them again.

Then, during Summer of 09, I spent a month traveling around USA with two friends.

During this time, I went to Virginia and spent a week with MaryAnn, Bob and the rest of the family there. It was amazing. They brought me to see important places in the area, I went camping at the beach with their son and family...

but the best part was to get to spent time with them.

In L.A., California, I went to Maria's & Len's home for dinner one night.

It was short, but so great too.

Unfortunatelly it's been more than 3 years since we saw each other,

but thanks to email and facebook and ordinary mail, we stay in contact.

And you might be wondering why I'm telling all this now.

Well, I've been meaning to scan and send this photo to MaryAnn and Bob for a long time.

And I finally did it today. Because today is Bob's birthday!!!

So this is my little gift to him and MaryAnn.

I think I will never thank them enough for everything they did for me!

Thank you!!!!

All my love, 

Mariona.

P.S: While writing it, I realized that there are many details about the story that I don't know. For example, the exact year that they left Spain to USA, how many years my great grandfather and great grandmother spent apart, or where in Pennsylvania is he buried...

P.D: Pot ser algun dia escriuré aquesta entrada també en català, però crec que tots els meus lectors catalans també entenen anglès oi?