30d • Lessons & Reflections
The Last Time My Aunt Saw Me, I Was 4… 60 Years Later, We Found Each Other Again
The last time my aunt saw me… I was 4 years old.
Yesterday, at 64, we found each other again.
There are moments in life that don’t ask for attention…
they earn it.
Yesterday was one of those moments.
My son CJ and I took a three-hour trip up to Stormville, New York…
not just to visit family…
but to reconnect with a part of my life that had simply been… distant in time.
I spent the day with my Tía Carmen and my Tío Julio…
and from my heart…
thank you.
Thank you for opening your home.
Thank you for opening your hearts.
And thank you for receiving us with love, warmth, and generosity.
I also had the blessing of meeting my cousins, Sharon and Stephen, for the first time…
along with Sharon’s husband Dennis and Stephen’s wife Alicia.
And just like that…
what once felt like distance…
became connection.
My brother Tony came by…
we sat together… shared stories… laughter… a beautiful meal…
and something even deeper than all of that—
we shared presence.
And then… there was that moment.
We recorded Tía Carmen and Tío Julio dancing salsa.
Tía Carmen—89 years young.
Tío Julio—in his early 80s, dealing with a bad hip.
But when the music played…
what you saw was passion.
What you saw was rhythm.
What you saw was life… expressed through movement, culture, and love.
It was beautiful.
For me, this wasn’t about fixing anything.
There was nothing to fix.
This was about something far more powerful—
family.
Coming together.
Reuniting after decades.
Being in the same room… at the same table… sharing life.
My aunt told me the last time she saw me… I was four years old.
Think about that.
Sixty years later… here we are.
And what made this even more meaningful…
was sharing this with my son, CJ.
For him to meet this side of the family…
to see where we come from…
to feel the energy, the conversation, the music…
And to hear him recognize the similarities—
educators… thinkers…
the love of culture…
the music that lives in both sides of our family…
That meant everything to me.
Because now… the connection continues.
That’s how legacy moves forward.
Not just through stories…
but through shared experiences.
Yesterday reminded me of something simple… but powerful:
👉 Life is short.
👉 No one gets a free pass—we all do the best we can with what we know.
👉 We all have ups and downs, wins and losses, clarity and mistakes.
That’s life.
But here’s the key…
we get to define our moments.
We get to decide how we show up.
How we connect.
How we live.
And the sooner we understand how precious and fleeting life is…
the sooner we start to see the beauty in all of it.
Not just the perfect moments…
but all of it.
So don’t wait for the “right time.”
Create the moment.
Step into it.
Be present in it.
Because these are the moments…
the real moments…
that define our lives.
Tía Carmen… Tío Julio…
I love you.
I honor you.
And I thank you.
To my family—past, present, and future…
this is what Living Strong looks like. 💪
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Below, I’m sharing a few moments from this day that meant so much to me…
Take a moment and watch it.
At 89 and 82 years old… with bodies that have been through life…
with my Tío Julio even needing a hip replacement…
when they danced… you didn’t see any of that.
What you saw was smooth.
What you saw was beautiful.
What you saw was two people fully alive in the moment… connected through music, culture, and love.
I’m also sharing a photo of myself with my Tía Carmen, my Tío Julio, my son CJ, and my brother Tony…
a moment that means more to me than words can express.
And another photo with my cousins, Sharon and Stephen, their spouses Dennis and Alicia, my son CJ, and my brother Tony…
a full circle moment of family coming together.
And one more… a special photo of my Tía Carmen holding a picture of her father—my grandfather, Pedro Lisiaga Sr.
a powerful reminder of where we come from… and the legacy that lives on through all of us.
Take a moment…
look, feel, and appreciate.
Because these are the moments…
that truly matter. 💛
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The Last Time My Aunt Saw Me, I Was 4… 60 Years Later, We Found Each Other Again
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