From Monica: This comic is not intended to be part of the regular timeline we loosely follow. We have posted it this week to honor my paternal grandfather, Orlando Soto, who just passed away this weekend, and from whom I draw the inspiration for the character of Mr. Mendez. He was a loving, upright man, a faithful and loyal husband, father and grandpa. This comic in particular is one of my earliest memories, when at the age of four I would give him a full makeover(manicure and pedicure included) while he took his afternoon nap before he went back to work. I did this many times and yet was never scolded or punished for it; even when he discovered the makeup, cleaned it up to go back to work but forgot his nails were still painted red. I cannot describe how much this man gave of himself to us; he figures prominently in all my happiest childhood memories, and he is the reason I have such fierce pride in my roots. My greatest pain and regret is that I was not there to hold his hand and thank him, and that I am not there now to comfort my grandmother. My prayers and thoughts go out to all my family who read this and know what I mean.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 18th, 2006 at 7:28 pm and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.