KUYA DOMENG IS DEAD!

We got the fateful call at around 6 am last week, as the hubby and I were getting ready for work and I heard him curse over the phone…then, after a while I saw him sitting on the sofa hunched over and emotional though I couldn’t really say if he was crying. I learned the sad news then that his brother died – in his sleep like a bangungot. It seems (from the stories of Ditse who was at BP at the time) he slept the night before with his tummy aching, they figured it was just from too much food intake. Then, in the middle of the night his wife was awakened by restless noises made by Kuya in his sleep. She tried to wake him up but he wouldn’t wake…fearful that he may be afflicted with ‘bangungot’ she called for help and they decided to bring Kuya to the hospital. He never made it alive to the hospital…he was dead before they even got there. Of course, it is expected that my husband, as well as the rest of his siblings, would be affected by his death. They are a close-knit family despite the fact that they were nine siblings in all. Kuya is the second in their brood and when I became part of their family, he was the one who usually tends to their farm. Since their Tatang died, no one else in their family had followed his footsteps except Kuya. My hubby did for awhile, but work in Manila beckoned and was far more lucrative so he left their province for greener pastures. But when Kuya grew old, he found he could not farm anymore so they left their house (which was situated at the back of the compound) to live in Pulilan, where her wife and family resides to help her sell puto and chicharon at the tiangge. Maybe, he had been feeling sick a long time but no one really knows…he is not the type to talk and complain much kasi e… I guess he feels he doesn’t have the money to go for a checkup and so he just lets his body heal itself naturally. But I wish he would have said something…anything to anyone so that his other siblings could have helped him… but now I guess it’s too late…today we lay his body to rest…goodbye Kuya…I will always be reminded of you whenever I prepare your favorite fruit salad every Christmas…I promise to send one out to the heavens for you each year… Rest in Peace brother…