LAST TESTIMONY

At the front entrance of the golden gates of heaven stood three eager men waiting to enjoy the richness of the promised paradise.  

God turned to U.S President Abraham Lincoln and asked, "What have you done for your fellow man?" Abraham humbling replied, "I paved the road to end slavery!" The Good Lord said, "Unfortunately, Mankind manipulated your un-selfished ideas to the American Civil War, which ended over 750,000 human lives!"

God turned to Physicist Albert Einstein and asked, "What have you done for your fellow man?"  Albert humbling replied, "I developed the theory of relativity!"  The Good Lord said, "Unfortunately, Mankind manipulated your genius talents to facilitate the development of the Atomic Bomb, which ended over 120,000 human lives!"

God turned to Comedian Jerry Lewis and asked, "What have you done for your fellow man?"  Jerry crossed his eyes and replied in a high squeaky voice, "I made people laughed!"  The Good Lord said with a big smile on his face, "The greatest gift ever given to Mankind!"

Rest In Peace...Jerry! 1926-2017

ANOTHER PASSING

My beloved Aunt, Rosa Balderas, died on Sunday, July 30 while sleeping in her bed, which is the style that I would choose for my last day on this planet...whenever that is.  She lived a full life at age 77, but she kind of went into seclusion after my cousin, Peter, passed away from Hodgkin’s disease.  In the early years, my Aunt was full of life and enjoyed helping my Uncle, Efrain, support their family of three daughters and two sons.  My father, Cruz Sr. and Efrain were brothers and we were a very tight-knit family, in fact, we all lived on the same street along with my Grandmother, Demetria, who treated us with authenticated Mexico/NuevoLeon-style home cooked meals toppled with salsaita de mero chingun  for flavoring.  I recalled during my adolescent years, which according to my wife, I’m still living it, how my Aunt and Uncle would staged plays of a quarreled, but yet silly couple just to get a laugh out of me every-time I visited, which was practically a everyday occurrence and they were pretty good at it too.  My Aunt would act as the aggressor waving a fist with her hands and say things like, “Now listen...viejo...I told you to make me some comida and it better be good or else you are going to get it mister..you hear me!” and my Uncle would played it off and pretend to act defenseless and say, “Ok...ok...geeez” and then we would all laughed it off.  Almost on every weekend our families would get together and celebrate something or another...you know...like other typical Mexican families do, but these were special times because they were ours as we once were...in fact, I still have the photos of a small party that my Aunt threw for me when I was leaving to the Marines...I really missed those days!   Unfortunately, my Grandmother, my Father and my Uncle are long gone and now my Aunt Rosa, who have never been the same person after the death of her son in 1992, which saddens me because she was always full of warm sunshine and fun every time I entered their home as they would stage out another act or play once I was inside. 

I’ll be missing you, Tia, and I am so sorry that I had not visit you before you went to the other side, but these days it has been very difficult for me to get around lately.  I love you and please say hello to my Father, Tio, Abuelita, Peter and Melissa and tell them that I miss them and love them greatly.  Good-bye Tia...I’ll never forget you and I love you..from your nephew, Cruzito.