Grandma Lumen left the Philippines to become a public school teacher in the Bronx for more than 15 years. But she never forgot the family recipe for her favorite Filipino dessert, ube halaya, or purple yam pudding. This woman is just one fantastic person whose poise and influence shine at the Philippine Consulate where it seemed like just about everyone knew her.
So sit back and enjoy this episode! Also, as you watch this video, if you have any questions for Grandma Lumen, let us know!
Caroline Shin is a multimedia journalist based in NYC. Recently, she launched “Cooking With Granny†– a Web series in which grandmas teach how to cook traditional dishes from their cultures while simultaneously sharing their funny, sad and surprising experiences with immigration and multiculturalism in a world that’s very different from today’s. Shin was previously a video editor at New York Magazine and holds an M.A. from Columbia Journalism School.
Flo Meiler, the oldest pole vaulter in the world competing at the 2015 World Masters Athletics Championships in Lyon, France. (Photo/Alex Rotas)
Flo Meiler may be 81, but she’s still at the top of her games. She actually competed in 18 different sports last month at the World Masters Athletics Championships in France, added three new world records to her 15, including one new American record in the triple jump and one in the heptathlon.
“Do you know what a heptathlon is?,†she asks excitedly. “It consists of 80-meter hurdles, the high jump, the shot put, and the 200-meter run on the first day. The second day, you do the long jump, the javelin, and 800-meter run…I got 5,730 points. The other gal got 5,135. I was pretty happy about that!â€
Meiler grew up on a dairy farm in a small community in Champlain, NY.
“I was always very active in high school,†recalls Meiler, now the oldest pole vaulter in the world. “I played basketball, I was a cheerleader, I took tap dancing lessons, I was a baton twirler, I played trumpet. I was in everything. I was always a go-getter.â€
Today, she lives with her husband of 55 years in Shelburne, Vermont. They moved around a lot throughout their marriage as he was a B-52 bomber pilot in the military.
“We were stationed in Orlando, Florida for 3.5 years, and we did a lot of water skiing competitions there,†says Meiler, who ended up taking part in more than 30 years of waterskiing competitions. “That strengthened my legs and arms a lot.â€
Together with her husband, she took up tennis at age 40, and now they enjoy ballroom dancing. Independently, she started competing at the Vermont Senior Games at 55, and she didn’t start track and field until she was 60.
“I was playing tennis with my husband, and my training partner asked me to try track,†remembers Meiler. She said, ‘I think you’ll be good at it,’ so I did it, and that’s what started my track and field career.â€
Out of all the sports she competes in, she says the pole vault and the hurdles are her favorites, “because they are very challenging, and I’ve always loved anything challenging.â€
Flo Meiler competing at the hurdles last month. (Photo/Alex Rotas)
She says she owes a lot to her training partner, and advises others to get one if they want to get serious about getting fit.
“I am very fortunate to have Barbara Jordan with me, because we challenge each other,†says Meiler. “When we compete, we’re the best of friends. We do the best we can. Two years ago, she had a mastectomy, and they took out part of her left lung. I call her my angel. If she wasn’t as fit as she was, she could not have [survived]. Fitness really counts when it comes to health.â€
Meiler says she’s taking it easy now – training only an hour and a half, six days a week, instead of two and a half. Her next competition isn’t until January – the Dartmouth Relays in Hanover, New Hampshire, which she’s been doing for the past 15 years.
One of her life’s biggest challenges has been personal, however.
“I had the misfortune of having two miscarriages,†says Meiler. “In those days, they didn’t have the medical equipment they had today. I also had a 3.5-year-old who died from aplastic anemia. Then we adopted three children – a 3.5 year old from Vermont, then another 2.5-year-old boy from Canada, and a 5.5-year-old from Korea. We have an international family. We all played tennis together, and did waterskiing.â€
What’s one piece of advice about life that she would tell her younger self with the wisdom she has now?
“Not everybody has had the opportunity that I had. I married a fantastic husband, and he was able to provide. I didn’t have to go to work, but I kept busy with doing something for the community – I volunteered for the American Heart Association for 27 years. If you’re not going to be working, you really should be doing something for your community,†says Meiler. “Don’t rest on your laurels. Keep active…be active in your church, be part of your community, take real good care of your family, and put the good Lord first in your life. He has really helped me in my life.â€
Putting into words how much you love someone can be really hard. The love is sometimes so powerful, you’re left speechless.
One of the most beautiful explanations my mom has used to describe her love for us came as a response to a bit of a smart answer I gave her.
She’s always said my brother and I are her lungs, without us she cannot breathe. One day I said to her:
“Bueno, uno puede vivir con un pulmón.â€
      (Well, you can live with one lung.)
She replied:
“Si, pero no vuelves a ser la misma.â€
     (Yes, but you’re never the same.)
Her response made me think, and I always remember it. It taught me how much you can mean to someone. You always know your mom loves you, but when it’s compared to something essential, like your lungs, you pause and really reflect.
I, too, honestly feel like I cannot breathe without my mother. In times of happiness, she’s there smiling ear-to-ear, in times of sadness, she holds my hand, and in challenging times, we love each other and stay positive.
Certain weeks, you feel really lucky and blessed. This week, I’m grateful for breathing room.
Victoria with her mom while traveling in Medellin, Colombia.
You know how sometimes you like a guy or a girl, and they’re not incredibly good looking, but not hideous either? Sometimes you don’t even know how to describe them!
My mother always tries to see the best in people, and like most mothers, her words may sound mean, but then you laugh and realize it’s not such a bad way of putting it either.
Typically, when my mother sees someone and finds herself in the same position I do when describing someone not gorgeous but not hideous, she tells me:
“No es bonito/a que encanta ni feo/a que espanta.â€
     (Translation: Neither cute enough to charm nor ugly enough to harm.)
I know this sounds harsh at first, but it’s also kind of hysterical. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been able to describe someone that way, and it totally makes sense to whomever I’m speaking with.
Let’s be honest, most people aren’t drop dead gorgeous, or drop dead hideous. In the end, it’s all in good fun, because as my mom always reminds me it’s the inside that counts.
Belgica en La Ciudad Vieja de Cartagena de Indias.
My mother and I got back from a two week vacation in South America yesterday. We spent time in Colombia and Argentina. We’ve done mother/daughter trips before and always have a great time. However, this is our first trip since she retired. This time we had a FABULOUS experience.
It’s amazing how much her demeanor has changed since retiring. It’s almost as if she got 25+ years back. In Colombia, she reunited with a great friend after 19 years. We went to Medellin and Cartagena. She bought herself a hat, and I lent her a pair of my sunglasses. That was the beginning of this new side of her I had never seen.
After Colombia, we headed to Argentina and met up with my brother in Buenos Aires. We hung out and even did a free walking tour. During the tour, you walk across what (some) Argentine’s claim is the world’s widest avenue – 9 de Julio. Naturally, as my mother and I are trying to hurry up and cross, I suggest we take a selfie. Like I said, she never says no.
When we landed at the Miami airport on the way home, my mom told me how she remembered the first time she landed there when she immigrated from Honduras. In the last few years she’s traveled the world. An opportunity she’s certain she wouldn’t of gotten had she stayed in her homeland.
You know sometimes people teach you the greatest lessons by not saying anything at all. I just observed her. She never got tired of walking. She never said no when I’d ask her to go sit at a bar with me. She was honestly more fun than most other people I’ve traveled with!
I told my brother that being with my mom shows me it’s never too late. After this trip, I’ve learned I need to try not to constantly feel like I need to rush or am running out of time. If I can be a quarter as fabulous and fun as my mom is when I’m 60, then in reality, I will have wasted no time at all.
Caroline Shin is a multimedia journalist based in NYC. Recently, she launched “Cooking With Granny†– a Web series in which grandmas teach how to cook traditional dishes from their cultures while simultaneously sharing their funny, sad and surprising experiences with immigration and multiculturalism in a world that’s very different from today’s. Shin was previously a video editor at New York Magazine and holds an M.A. from Columbia Journalism School.
