King Maya , Giggles, Maya Papaya nicknames of darling daughter so missed, so gracious, so kind.

1. 1999 Racing to Finish
The mother knocked over the hot coffee by squeezing into the nail-polish-red Nissan low rider's
passenger seat with a book-full backpack. Maya, the daughter, had just set down on the gear
rest, delaying the drive time for the mother/ daughter college mates.
Spilled hot coffee was an insigni
fi
cant incident. There was no mention of splatter on the young
student's sundress, no spat or whining off the black puddle. Finishing college was imminent to
eventually getting out of the nest for the daughter and out of debt for the mother.
Mother: I am presenting in my Language History class about how language gets wiped out off
the face of the earth by a dominant language.
Daughter: Did you
fi
nd out how Hebrew almost got lost?
Mother: Similar to the CHamoru language, but the women of Guam continued speaking it.
Does it show that the island was woman-ruled.? (As always, the elder always asks for
help in many academic
fi
elds for broader knowledge the younger one possesses.
Daughter: You mean matriarchal society.
M/Yeah, that's what I meant. Until Spain dominated the people for over 500 years, and then
the Americans right after. Only to be bombed on December 8, 1941, and occupied for four
years. And then America immediately after the United States blew Japan to kingdom come.
What great things are happening today for you?
D/ elaborates distinctly on every aspect of language; she is an English major. Focused in the
origins of words. For example, cabal. The word history from Medieval Latin, cabala, cabal …
M/ eh like cabales in CHamoru, to mean—set, having it all.
D/is not far from the old Latin to mean ‘received,’ but today’s the term is used in political
connections to gain from it.
As quickly as Maya got on the wheel, they were already several miles on their way to the
university they'd enrolled in 2 1/2 years ago. Speeding past speed limits, hugging the tightest
curves of the road on the little tropical island of Guam, Maya contemplates the directives of her
professors and the circle of friends she tends to during their smoke and lunch breaks together
that she enjoys. Although exceptionally intelligent and creative, it is in people's sense of humor
and easy-going disposition that she
fi
nds most stimulating of her humble nature.
Windows down, the freshly washed long hair of the young student blowing in the wind to dry,
indifferent purpose, for the elder
fl
uf
fi
ng up her thinning hair. At the late age of 48 and one
more years to the
fi
nish line of reaching her Bachelor's degree in teaching, she's so grateful that
their focus is matched despite their age difference.

2. Mother's focus is to get her degree before her own educated Mother dies (at 85, Ursula
continues to encourage her middle-aged daughter to return to school.). She will be the
fi
rst and
only child to graduate from her brood of nine. It was a childhood dream of the atypical college
student, too. Proud that her daughter is closer to the
fi
nish line by one year than she is, a
testament to her innate love for her imperfect Mother.
When the two ladies parked the low-rider, their hair dried and
fl
uffed. The younger one was tall,
buxomness, and leggy, opposite her mother's short and stout physique. Going their separate
ways, the daughter steams off in a mumble, 'the fuck I smell like hot coffee now, bitch”!
The imperfect Mother, proud of her beautiful and obedient daughter, doesn't hear struts off. As
she walked past the humongous Nunu trees (Tåotåomona trees) that dot the grassy wave-like
knoll, she drifts back in time;
'Mom, look at that funny man,’ as the little girl was closing the blinds to shield our Tumon
apartment's
fi
ery orange setting sun. Clad, as usual, in her 100% cotton bathing suit purchased
in bulk from their last trip to Bali the year before. The mother was baf
fl
ed because, in an instant,
the little girl looked frightened, ‘oh, he looks scary,’ she quivered.
‘Where, where, I can't see him.' the mother frantic, having just brought her newborn baby
home from the hospital. Her mind swirled with wild thoughts of the CHamorru superstitious
warnings of how the 'duendes' that live under Nunu trees were the
fi
rst peoples' spirits. These
spirits would entice children to possess their little minds by trickery, only to steal them away into
the thick mosquito-laden jungles and keep them at will forever. To befriend and become lifelong
playmates.
Since that evening in December of 1988, Maya, eight years old then, with long dark auburn hair,
twinkling large cherub brown eyes, and perfect heart-shaped lip, became a nocturnal beautiful
creature mostly reading up till daylight.
Life for the new family was moving faster than the young mother could handle this insatiable
reader and curious learner. With money pouring in from Joe, Maya's father's successful
boatbuilding business, her Mom provided her intelligent daughter with many books and even
allowed her to join a book club. Maya was
fi
nishing chapter books daily. The Apple Mac
computer used for their business became Maya's favorite machine. For her 12th birthday, her
Mom bought her the popular computer game called, 'Where in the World is Carmen Miranda..'
Still, Maya, although busy in the swim team, Monokai, and helping take care of her
rambunctious monster of a brother, shown remarkable stamina, and having capacity beyond her
age persevering with so much responsibility without complaint, succeeding in every subject of
her schoolwork, even jumped a grade. But she couldn't sleep. Her mother swamped taking
care of the administration and
fi
nances of the business, didn't take heed. She just thought her
daughter had terrible sleeping habits. Right into middle and high school, Maya struggled with
sleepless nights. Still, she continued to breeze by with excellent grades, socializing without a
hitch throughout her private school life, sought after by many loving friends to join in extra-
curricular activities. Unknown to the busy parents, even when at times she'd be awakened with
a cold pitcher of water, there might be concerning physical or mental issues with this amazing
little girl, who hardly makes a peep when she is hurt.

3. She loved beautiful dresses and shoes, just as a little girl would. But she only received from her
mother the plainest things despite being able to afford them; unconsciously, the imperfect
mother repeated to live as practically as how she was raised.
There were daily chores and high expectations demanded of Maya, and she was still left with
the responsibility of caring for and babysitting for her little obnoxious toddler brother. Where in
Heaven's name are her absent parents? The mother is unencumbered. To her, Maya is the
perfect child. Maya studies cleans not only her room but the whole house immaculately! Her
Papa would take credit by announcing to Maya… ‘You are an Alonso. Did you know that
Christopher Columbus' Captain Alonso Penzon of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria had a close
connection with Spanish explorer?’
The imperfect mother, unaware of her conditioning from her mother, in this case, to be humble,
to be silenced of the desire for material things, how else will she be able to carry the burdens of
family, failed to see beyond the un-natural nature of the little girl's sleeplessness.
So when the business came to a halt, and that long-distance call the mother had to make to her
good daughter, that there's no money enough to continue her college at UW, the good daughter,
already with a job she'd sought hard for herself to help along and her future at UW, came
closing to an end, Maya listened to her Mother’s plea to join her in applying for Yamashita
Teacher Corp, a scholarship with small stipend that doubles each year at island's University.
The race began; both mother and daughter enrolled as education majors, with the idea that
Maya's desire in writing could be developed by majoring in English as a secondary teacher, the
mother as a CHamorru language and culture teacher.
Career Heaven
Maya would obtain her double majors in English and teaching degrees in only three years.
Immediately after graduating with high honors, she began her career as a high school teacher in
an English college prep course. After three years of repayment service in the public school
system, she was immediately hired to be the editor of an edgy magazine, the longest-lasting
operation of any other on the island. Maya's passion for good readings offered in all subjects,
from historical, biographical, political, and social in entertainment to fashion and dining, fought
hard against its closure after--years. Having continued with her passion for writing, she began a
journey in the political arena employed by the 29th Legislator's most controversial but popular
Senator. Her keen, farsighted intelligence, calmed by innate graciousness, con
fi
dent in who she
is, she quietly accepted her replacement ensued through politico of a blatant community,
whisked off, ' I don’t like politics! Demands for her pro
fi
ciency in writing led to her self-
employment in speechwriting, 'ghostwriting, and editing business.

4. Her work for perfection in large audience gigs led her to head the Micronesia Fair 2014. It
contributed a wealth of information in facilitating outer-island culture affairs of art and culture;
she’d written an Information Guide for the Guam Visitor’s Bureau.
Caregiver
2010, Two years after her Dad moved into his parents' home to care for them in their old age,
she received a call from her Dad about her Nanny's incontinence. Sel
fl
essly, she left her
comfortable beach-front apartment to join the senior home.
For
fi
ve years, she managed the household upkeep in every aspect, never able to fully live as a
young adult. Steal away time and energy, and everyone who needed did not hesitate to call to
impose.
I promised her I would be back and set her free. And I did, retiring from my
fi
rst year of
becoming a School Counselor. She opened up the home of her grandparents with music,
gourmet meals, and an open-door-policy to all who cared to drop by for a glass of wine with her
grandmother struggling with dementia and grandfather with his sharp mind and her Dad with his
gawd-awful mood swings. She’d tell me, ‘Mother, I think the 50’s parenting on bipolar children
rolled Dad’s demeanor. We’d laugh and joke behind his back; she called him on his
fi
ts of
tantrums. Leona II, after his mother.
Maya Consuelo Untalan Alonso. Reality to saving the earth. Blood mixed of Portuguese,
Spanish Chamorro Filipino Marshallese, and Scot —facilitator of the land. *born in an era of the
newly invented diapers, she’d never been made to wear the ‘pampers,’ only cotton diapers/
Dad’s recycled t-shirts. The Saving the Earth mindset of the mother continued into her
daughter, who began appreciating it when, after an all-out dining experience, foods we couldn’t
eat slid nonchalantly into the one bag she carried for over a decade. The plan of midnight
movies and snacks to follow with Maya, reaching out to lift my hand, place it on her head, and
let my
fi
ngers run through it just as I did when she was a little girl.