Mema and Pepa

Prayer warriors. Loving grandparents. Close friends.

Mema and Pepa are exactly that.

My family (being Mom, Dad, Michael and me) found ourselves without any other family around when Mema and Pepa entered our lives about 20 years ago. I have never known a couple to just take in a family and love on them the way that they have us. They quickly accepted us as family, calling my brother and I their grandkids since they at the time had none. 

My favorite memories involve staying at their house for a weekend. We had special bears that they gave us to sleep with. Mema would always cook our favorite meals and Pepa would tease us about what tv shows we liked.  Over meals they would ask us about our relationships with God and talk to us about our dreams for the future. They would read the Bible with us and pray with us after the conversation. 

Mema would take us out to eat. I remember this one time when we were driving through Central Park (much like a Rally's) and Mema asked the drive-thru attendant, "Now those burgers will be fresh right?" Then, she was appalled that I thought they might spit in our food for her asking that. She was such a trooper though because we always took her to the greasiest, dirtiest places and she never complained.

Mema and Pepa are family. They have been there for our birthdays and for holidays.  (Mom and Dad would hide our presents at their house.) They have been there for the bad days. I remember going to their house when I was sick with a stomach flu once that I had gotten at camp and they took care of me while Mom and Dad were at work.  The have been there for the good days. They came to and were a part of my wedding and Michael's wedding. (They even threw me a wedding shower though I had not lived near them in a long time.)

Mema and Pepa are still very important to me to this day.  I do not get to see them nearly as often as I would like, but I am thankful to have them in my life even just through conversations and letters. They take Adam in on occasion when he travels there on business and always cook tons of food for him. (Mema is one of the best cooks I know and Adam always comes home raving about the food!)

I hope one day when my kids are grown and out on their own that Adam and I can take on a young family like that and be to them what Mema and Pepa are to us.

Family.