Tia Viña
Tia Viña was the first born and by virtue of that status was the matriarch. While her siblings were mercurial and histrionic, she was the wizened and stoic elder. She calmed turbulent waters, helped litigate tribal disputes or just pass along sage advice. She was the Dalai Lama-Mendez. She commanded respect, maintained a proper demeanor, and never engaged in the hysterics that characterized my mother or Tia Blanca. She was supposedly the most milquetoast of the bunch.
But beneath that velvet glove...
Her husband Moises, to whom she had always been married - from their early days in rural Puerto Rico where the young couple, now with two young children, struggled to eke out a hard scrabble living, he on a tobacco farm and she in a sewing workshop, to their migration to the land where the streets are paved with gold - was her perfect counterfoil; quiet and meek. She was the strong one in their family, as is true of every one of the Mendez women. Together, they raised, in addition to her three kids, my sister.
They lived for many years on New York’s West Side where Moises was the superintendent of a large apartment building, moving later to Rockaway Beach, and then back to the fatherland where they both now rest in peace.
When we were kids the custom was that when a Tia/o arrived at the house we were expected to greet them and ask for the blessing. Now, the Mendez sisters all had differing veneers that hid their really strong personalities. About the only cross word I ever had with her was that she snitched me out by telling the rest of the family about me getting caught shoplifting.
When she and Tio got to the house, I snubbed her.
I made it a point to come to the welcome queue and then walked away.
"What the hell is this?," she bellowed in an uncharacteristically aggressive manner. Tio, tried to cut her off. "Virginia, Dios santisimo...."
"No!" She slapped him down. She was outraged and would not tolerate it. The die was cast. "What?", she demanded of me "is going on?" Where in the hell was her blessing request?
I looked at her, my mother, and Tio .........
I caved.
"Bendición, Tia.""Bendición, mijo. Que Dios te cuide."
And just as quickly, the storm passed.
