Meeting more of the Gonzales Family ~

As I turn the pages of my Silvan notes, I realize how many Gonzales cousins I have found and who have befriended me and our quest to learn more about our ancestors all the way to Spain. As I look at the most recent picture from one of Cristencia Silvan Gonzales's children, I smile. She is Victoria or Vic to some of the closer family members, born in Hawaii in 1917 and as a swaddled four-month old baby, entered the bay to San Francisco into Angel Island with her parents, Cristencia and Eusebio and her five siblings. Now, in the Winter of her life she is again in Hawaii, wearing muu muus and listening to Ukeles and smelling the heavenly scents of the tropical flowers. My hopes are to sit and talk with her one day just as I hope to sit and talk with her sister, Theresa, in September who lives in Winters, California.

Their siblings are gone now. Their children and grandchildren look at pictures and have their own memories. Some have shared them with me and I am so appreciative for every tiny bit of information and pictures they so willingly share. Our SILVAN LEAVES book will be filled with stories, documents and pictures.... but first, I must finish MANUELA'S PETALS. Such a cache of information to share!

The wonders of finding family members like these --- who were first cousins to my Abuelita Manuela Silvan Ruiz, never turn cloudy but remain sharp, clear and a living adventure.

We have the Souza family and the Gonzales family on the Silvan side. AND we have the Martin family and more on the Ruiz side. I am trying to concentrate on the Silvan family for now because I don't want to get them mixed up in my head, but line each person up like marbles in my head. Then, the Ruiz family --- look out! I'm on my way there too.

Since I moved away from Woodland when I was 9 years old, I wasn't able to know the cousins, aunties, uncles and those relatives beyond but I am definitely trying to make up for lost time.

I look in the mailbox and my eMail box daily, hoping for stories, pictures and documents to add to my files. One day, we will all have them in a book to share with our own descendants. If only Abuelita could be part of the fun!