Five Minutes Fast AT M Y G R A N D M A’ S PA C E
ELIAS CABRERA
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Abuela Celeste To my dear grandma, Maria Celeste Ruiz de Tavarez, who has lived an exemplary life. You have taught us many wonderful, life-changing lessons. You sowed good seeds in difficult times, and now you are reaping the fruits.
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Profile of a Hero 1944
She was born and raised on a farm in a small town in the province of Valverde, Dominican Republic. At the age of five, she had already taken a leadership role in her family, looking after the cattle, farming activities, and household chores. Being the oldest of 11 siblings, life was never fair. There was always someone to steal people’s attention from her. This also meant that 10 other children needed to be babysat when her parents were not at home. On top of that, the dozens of animals living on the farm had to be fed and maintained.
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Born in the wild. Raised to survive.
Jaibon, located in the Dominican province of Valverde, is a town made up of farmlands and small businesses.
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Sowing the Good Seeds Teenage years
As my grandma had taken leadership roles in different areas of her house, she learned a lot of useful skills. At 14 years old, she learned to knit and tailor and began to sell them. When my grandma turned 15, her dad noticed the talent and skills that she had and bought her her first sewing machine, which she still owns and uses today. It is one of her precious gifts left by her dad.
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My grandma’s first sewing machine which her dad gave her before passing away.
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One of my grandma’s knitted pictures when she was a teenager.
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Another of my grandma’s knitted pictures.
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“ Mientras
tu ycoriticas, � bajo.
tra
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“While you criticize, I work.� Jealousy, bitterness, and hatred are some of the things that will precede criticism. Throughout our lives we encounter many people that talk poorly about us, our work, and even our lives. Something my grandma learned over the years was to take the time that others spent criticizing people, and used it to work hard and get better at whatever she did.
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Our last dance was never part of the plan. 12
The Death of her Hero 19 years-old
If she did not have a heavy enough load on her shoulders, at the age of 19 tragedy struck. On a warm afternoon in 1964, my grandma’s father was riding his motorcycle back home, where he would meet with his family after work. Although his body physically made it home, his soul never did. A truck, coming from the opposite direction, struck him and sent him flying off his motorcycle. This accident left his wife a widow with 11 children to raise.
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Now that her father was missing, my grandma was put in charge of raising some of her siblings to help her widowed mother. This, however, did not stop her from moving forward and finishing her education. In 1966, at age 22, she graduated from a post-secondary academy where she learned various types of skills, such as mechanography (typing) and sewing. In spite of her hard past, she knew the future was still bright. So she headed to the city, leaving her family behind, where she would start looking for a job and make a living.
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She attended a catholic academy where she was encouraged to become a nun.
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He came out of nowhere.
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A year had gone by after my grandma had graduated from academy when, one day, my grandpa noticed her as he was leaving the movies and determined that he would marry her some day. Although some guys had shown interest in her, she had never dated anyone before meeting my grandpa. They clearly had opposite personalities. My grandma was an astute businesswoman, talkative and proactive. On the other side, my grandpa was more solemn yet comical. But as they saying goes, opposites attract, and this has been true for them since 1967.
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In the blink of an eye 1967
“I was a young lady in my early 20’s. I attended mass frequently at a local church. My now-husband, on the other side, enjoyed going to the movies.” “One day, when he was leaving the movies, he noticed me and followed me from a distance to see where I lived. He then started to walk near that area and eventually started to talk to me.” “After asking my permission, he began the process of getting to know me and, not too long after that, he was asking me to turn this into something serious. Six months later I called him my husband.”
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“Dios da
ba rb a al que no tiene ” . a d a j i qu
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“God gives a beard to those without a jaw.� My grandma has always been devoted to religion. She grew up in a catholic home and later became an evangelical Christian. However, it was not until her early 50s that she learned to trust in God. She learned that He provides when it seems impossible and allows miracles to happen when there is no hope. She learned that no matter the situation, she is safe in His arms.
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My grandma has always found joy in work which has helped her to get further in life and achieve more.
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The Ideal Helpmate My grandpa was the son of a fairly renowned business owner/manager and grew up in a business oriented home. Soon after my grandparents got married, they began working together at their small grocery store (known as a colmado), Las Mercedes. They had a successful business which they ran together for years. During this time, the city they were living in, Santiago de los Caballeros, was still in a process of growth and development. Therefore, there were not many grocery stores around the area, which allowed them to gain a strong clientele.
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This was a newspaper post in the local newspaper on my mom’s first birthday.
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The Miracle
Celeste Milagros
My grandparents did not have their first child until five years after their marriage began. They had been trying for several years, yet nothing happened for a long time. Although this allowed them to work and develop their business, they had a desire to start a family and did not want to throw in the towel. On March 2nd 1973, the miracle they were hoping for finally happened. Their first child, Celeste Milagros (which translates to Celestial Miracle), was born. Their excitement lead them to post about this event in the local newspapers so that everyone could celebrate with them.
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They stood out from other grocery stores in the city in that they were continually striving to be a step ahead in the game. Las Mercedes was the first store in the city to have shopping carts available for their customers. However, there came a time where it became difficult to run the business. The store began to demand too much time and resources from my grandparents and they decided it was time to move on. In 1973 they sold their Las Mercedes grocery store and began a new chapter of their lives. A chapter focused on balancing work and family.
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My mom in one of my grandparent’s shopping carts.
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My mom sitting on my great grandpa’s lap.
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My mom as a baby in my grandpa’s car.
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“De todo , o d i d r e p algo
� ogido.
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“Every loss is a lesson.� Everything in life has a purpose and we can either ignore it and move on or stop, reflect, and learn a lesson from those situations. My grandma’s life has been marked with many losses, such as the loss of her dad, a close-to-death experience with her son, and other business related disappointments. Each and every one of those losses, however, meant a lesson to her, they meant knowledge and experience for the future.
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A 2nd place trophy she won at the “President’s Competition” in 1977 selling health insurance.
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Triumphant My grandma decided to become an insurance broker and, shortly after selling the grocery store, my grandma settled in at her house and made herself an office for her work. Like the warrior she had always been, she fought through and excelled at it. Her story as an insurance broker was one of success and inspiration. 9 out of the 12 months of the year she was the best insurance seller, selling 44 insurances a year. Her achievements spread across the country and even internationally.
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Antonio Haddad, general manager at the CompaĂąia Nacional de Seguros (National Insurance Company), hands my grandma one of the several awards she won.
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A 2nd place trophy my grandma won at the “President’s Competition” in 1978 selling health insurance.
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“Champion of the Month� award my grandma won at the Nacional de Seguros (National Insurance Company).
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Bartolomé Núñez, manager at the Compañia Nacional de Seguros (National Insurance Company), hands my grandma one of the several awards she won.
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My grandparents have kept a memory of most their trips with photographs, souvenirs, and memorable items.
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My grandma always wanted to travel but was financially limited. Now that those limits were gone, thanks to her successful business, she had the privilege of traveling around the world with my grandpa. They got to visit several countries such as Spain, France, England, USA, Thailand, China, and various countries in South America, among others. From train trips to cruise vacations, they have been able to experience different cultures, foods, languages, and architecture. Even today, they still embark on new adventures every year, expanding the extensive list of places they have been to.
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A pendulum clock my grandpa received from his dad, dating back to the early 1900s.
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Five Minutes Fast Always ahead of the game
My great-grandparents passed down this centennial pendulum clock to my grandparents decades ago and it has been hanging on their wall ever since. My grandpa has been winding this clock every other day for years, always keeping the time running. The clock’s history is not really what makes it special. This pendulum clock has always been running five minutes ahead. They purposely did that so that my grandparents would always arrive five minutes earlier to a specific place. It also allowed them to figuratively live in the future.
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Down to Three Building her family
After the miracle they experienced when they were able to have their first child, my grandparents continued to build their family. A year after my mom was born, my grandma conceived a second child, Gustavo Arturo, who would later become the surname bearer of the family. In 1976, they welcomed their third and last child into the family, Martha Cecilia.
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Now that the family had grown to five members, my grandma had to make big readjustments in her life in order to maintain her family while preserving her successful career in the insurance industry. Besides selling the grocery store and moving on to become an insurance broker so she could work from home, she also had to make certain financial decisions in order to afford some things. These included private school for her children and household expenses she had to help her husband pay for.
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Even though they were both working parents, they had a strong sense of family. Family trips were common as well as gatherings with their extended families. At times, however, my grandma’s busyness would get in the way and prevent her from spending quality time with her children. Fortunately, they were all part of a large family, thanks to the amount of uncles and aunts on my grandma’s side. This meant that they always had someone to hang out with, whether they wanted take a trip to the beach or just have a nice dinner together.
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Family picture taken in 1977.
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My mom, uncle, and aunt were all raised in a conservative home. Although fights among the siblings were not absent, respect was an important virtue, especially towards their parents. The parties they attended were not many and their friendships were closely watched. Needless to say, my grandparents were not overprotective in an unhealthy way and did all these things in nothing but love.
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The three siblings pose for casual picture in their front yard.
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My grandma watching her black and white television, 1993.
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Just like most people born in the first half of the 20 th century, my grandma has always been technologically challenged. However, that has not stopped her from moving along with technological advancements. For example, she owned one of the first digital cameras models that came out. Just recently, she bought the latest iPhone, and, at one point, her laptop was more modern than mine.
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Over the years, my grandparents have owned many different cars. At one time, they owned up to four cars at once just for the two of them. They have never been loyal to a specific car make, but instead, every time they bought a car, they would try a new make. These included cars such as Chevrolet, Datsun, Peugeot, Nissan, and Mazda, to name a few. My grandpa has always taken good care of his cars, making sure he washes them himself as often as he can. My grandma, on the other hand, has always been more focused on being efficient and fast, which, consequently, has resulted in her backing into her driveway gate multiple times.
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Some of the cars my grandparents have owned since they got married.
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“ prefiero ser
cabeza de raton
y no
� . n o e l cola de 52
“I’d rather be the head of a mouse than the tail of a lion.� This saying can be interpreted in many ways, but one of my favourite explanations is the following: it is better to be the humble leader of a small army than to be the lowest ranked soldier in a big army who and be forgotten. My grandma has always had the personality of a leader, whether it was raising her siblings or being an award-winning insurance broker. Throughout the years, she learned that bigger is not always better and that quality is better than quantity.
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Her garden is the forth child she never had. Every day she takes care of it by watering every individual plant and flower, both in her backyard and front yard. When my mom and her siblings were growing up, my grandma would watch them closely to make sure the garden never got damaged. More than 30 years have gone by since she moved into that house with her family and her garden has never been neglected.
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never neglected
My grandma’s garden is one of the most important parts of her house and it has been rebuilt several times.
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Passing on the baton My grandma worked hard to raise her children, and, when the time came, she was pleased to watch them start and lead families of their own. My mom got married in 1993, followed by my uncle in 1998, and lastly, my aunt got married in 1999. The three young families have given my grandparents the privilege of enjoying eight grandchildren, including myself.
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Celeste, Gustavo, and Martha are all married today, forming their own families.
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mi bella familia
“My beautiful family.� The family of 16 members reunited in 2015 to celebrate Christmas and the New Years by the beach.
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What once was a couple of two young lovers that fought hard to build a bright future, today has become a strong and united family of 16 members. While some of them are still living in Santiago de los Caballeros, where they were raised, others have moved to different cities and countries. Martha and Isaias moved with their family to the Dominican capital city, Santo Domingo, due to his job. Celeste and Emilio moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2012 with their family to pursue a higher education for their three sons. Gustavo and Silvia are currently running two local drug stores and live in Santiago de los Caballeros with their family. Lastly, my grandparents are still living at their house in Santiago de los Caballeros.
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Acknowledgments Thank you grandma for all the time you spent telling me about your exemplary life, for the digging into your old archival of photos and sending those to me, and your endless support and love. I hope this book helps you look back at all the things God has blessed you with and that it helps others be inspired to fight on and move forward in life, regardless of the hardships they face.
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Five Minutes Fast AT M Y G R A N D M A’ S PA C E
AT MY GRANDMA’S PACE My grandma lived a fast-paced life but that allowed her to get far ahead of others. Follow along on a lifelong journey marked with losses and victories.