THE OLDEST PERSON IN MY FAMILY

The oldest person in my family is my grandmother, Rosa. She is the mother of my mother and she lives in Barcelona with my aunt Rosa because both are widows.

She is eighty two years old, but she only has diabetes and arthrosys.

She was born in Guissona in 1926. But when she was 2 years old, the life in Spain was wrong and her father found work in Elne (France), so her family moved to Elne, a village near of Perpignan.

She lived there during eighteen years. She studied there and she had there all her life, but they had to return to Spain because her brother had to do the military service.

They established in Barcelona and she found work here, but she went to Elne for holidays for take care of an aunt.

She met my grandfather in the train, one day when she was returning from Elne. She was travelling with her mother, who began to talk with my grandfather during the way, while my grandmother was angry because she wanted to stay in France for some more days. When they were arriving to the station, the train passed by the neighboor where they lived and her mother shows my grandfather where they were living and one day my grandfather went to their door to see my grandmother.

At the beginning, she didn’t like my grandfather because he lived in Lleida and he had very dark skin. But my grandfather get inspire love to her.

Finally they got married and they went to live to Lleida during one year, but then they return to Barcelona and rented a flat. They had got three daughters. One of them, my mother. She took care of her family while my grandfather worked as a carpenter.

In 1964, she bought a local bought and she opened a butcher shop where she worked until 1972 with my mother. Then she started working in the neighborhood’s market, in a seafood’s shop. She worked there until my grandfather became ill. He was diagnosed with cancer when he was 57 years. She took care of him until he died.

She was widowed when she was 61 years. She live alone since then and she spend her life traveling around the world.

She met a man with whom she had a special relationship, but she never re-married.

Two years ago my aunt got cancer and she went to live with her. My aunt is now fully recovered, but still lived together and occasionally they does some traveling together.