Named after my mom in law & lola.

Mom Tisset & Lola Nel,
I’ve been integrated into your family now for about fifteen years, officially married in nearly eight. Really though, there wasn’t much of an integration. You included me in from the very beginning. 

Mom Tisset, as an only child, you made my dreams come true every time I got invited to a family party. I still remember being welcomed into gatherings where you would say, “These are your cousins. This is your auntie.” I don’t think you ever realized how much that single word—your—meant to me. It gave me a sense of belonging. 
During the last big floral holiday you came to one of my pop-ups. You sat there watching with a big smile on your face until I was sold out. I already knew you were proud just by the look on your face, but afterwards everyone couldn’t stop telling me about the ways you talked about your aw for what I was creating for my clients. Again, I don’t think you know how much it means to me to have you be a present and proud mother.

Lola, the matriarch of the family! You show your love interwoven in the food you make us. Every time I tell someone my husband is from Pampanga, the first thing people say is, “Oh, wow! Your family must cook well!” I immediately tell them about you. You remember all my favorites dishes— Your homemade vegetable lumpia, tortang talong, and your kare kare. I think lovingly of the moments you see me sitting on the aisle of your kitchen and you’d say, “I know what Steph wants! I’m making lumpia!” I think of the way you let me (yes, let me) grate the carrots for the dish when your hands are too tired. (Everyone knows lola only lets you help if she thinks you’re competent.) Whenever you tell your friends about me, you tell them about how I eat & love all Filipino food more than Enzo does. I feel your love with every bite.  

May this arrangement honor you both— may it convey the love and wholeness of what a healthily integrated family looks like to those who receive this bouquet.