Pamana Ng Magulang, Lolo't Lola: How This Mom Keeps Family Memories Alive In Her Modern Home

For Dr. Mitch Mariñas, a mom of two, her home holds very fond memories of her parents.

"This is adjacent to where my mom lived. It was our yard and our garage," she says to Real Living. "When I finally had my own family… We decided to build a house here and move in."

Mitch's mom was overjoyed to find out that she and her family had decided to settle nearby. But soon after, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. "[She] passed away six months before we moved in."

A mix of old and new

While the dream of truly living beside her mom was never realized, many memories live on in the things she decided to keep. "I decided that furniture she left behind, I would just take it," she says.

Aside from practicality, it gave her a sense of continuity. The pieces she grew up with found a new home in minimalist surroundings. Mitch's childhood home looked like a museum, according to her friends. It even had a life-sized santo.

Mixing the old with the new, each piece in Mitch's current home tells a story of love that overcomes loss. Two such pieces were a grandfather clock bought by her mom in Europe in the 1980s, and her grandparents' antique bed from their hometown, which her daughter now uses.

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What to keep, what to let go

Mitch's younger sister helped her sort through the inherited collections. Some are paintings collected by her dad, while the antiques used to belong to her grandparents. "I had her help with what we would keep and what would be okay to let go."

But Mitch retained everything that belonged to their maternal grandmother. "That's part of our history."

Mitch regrets letting go of some pieces, but takes a pause and asks herself: "Would this make sense to keep, or would it just gather dust?"

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Looking at the ones she decided to keep, she doesn't feel lonely that her parents are no longer around. "I felt like I gave the pieces a new home. And they were mine again, but differently," she says. "It's really a home. It's really ours."

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This article is originally published in Real Living as part of its KakaiBahay series, with revisions by the Smart Parenting team.

Featuring unique homes with unique stories, KakaiBahay goes beyond design and highlights the personal histories of those who live in them. In KakaiBahay, homeowners take us through their spaces, going down memory lane as we get to know their favorite corners, interesting furniture, and sentimental pieces.