Mari Madrid Instagram – My Grandma Loling (yes Loling) touching US soil for the first time in 1953, at 27 years old. My Grandpa Candido is facing her. He was 17 years her senior and a steward for the US Merchant Marines. He originally came to the US in 1928, at 19 years old as a farm laborer first in Hawaii, then north of Sacramento, CA. Looking at old records, we were/are the exact same height and weight, my heart swells. My Grandpa holed up in an Italian family’s barn through the Great Depression. When he first came to the US, family legend has it he would walk the streets with an ice pick in his suit as protection. Apparently it was common for Filipinos back then because not all parts of town were friendly for them. Back in the PI, my Grandma hid from Japanese soldiers during the occupation during WWII, dodging bayonets that would pierce through the walls of their bamboo homes. She started high school at 20 because the war paused her education. These are just some snippets of their stories. What I have now, is because of what they achieved, endured, and built. I am so grateful to be Filipino American and proud to come from people of absolute RESILIENCE. Thank you Lola and Lolo for paving the way for the generations that follow you. Sharing because these stories are our history – hard-earned and we are the keepers. Happy Filipino American History Month y’all! #filipinoamericanhistorymonth