FAREWELL …MANG QUETO!

Today, a few officemates and I visited the wake of a recently retired officemate - Mang Queto. He used to work for the Records division and so we usually see him going around bringing mail or other communication from the office to the different units. He turned 65 last year so even if he still doesn’t want to stop working, he doesn’t have much choice because Civil service rules prohibits hiring him even on contractual basis. I guess that took its toll on him since I heard he needs to continue earning because most of his kids do not have work and still depend on him despite having families of their own already.

They said he went to work for a previous boss of the office just to earn a living – doing some gardening and other odd jobs around their house. It was quite hot on the day he had a stroke so many believe it was the heat that did him in or maybe the pressure he felt or the desperation. I guess he was just placed in a very bad situation that’s not really at all his fault because he’s old and he deserves to rest and just enjoy the fruits of his labor. But alas he still can’t because he still has to earn for his family. He had been a casual employee for the most of his career which is why he wasn’t entitled to any pension and therefore can’t just cool his heels while waiting for money to arrive monthly. And I realize there are many people I know who are like that, they don’t have SSS or GSIS so they do not have anything to fall back on when their old age comes knocking on their door. It’s good if you’re still strong and can still work…but what if you’re not???

I hope when that time of my life comes, I won’t have to work anymore. I hope to just live simply on a pension that’s just enough to cover my meals and medicines (hehehe) I hope, too, that when I am already old my kids would still continue to support me, even the simple perks in life that I may have – like a cup of Starbucks coffee or even a trip to someplace nice. But one thing for sure I don’t want to spend the remaining days of my life still working my ass off. I hope to just chill out and putter about in a place I could call my own even if it’s just a small home with a small garden, lots of books, and of course, a laptop with internet!

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…

MAMA FE IS DEAD

Today, we said goodbye to a dear aunt - a sister of my mother, the one she is closest the most… I know she had her faults and made some mistakes against my mother countless times but knowing my mother…she was quick to forgive. Whenever, Mama had her problems, it was to Mama Fe that she ran to, even back to the days when they were still young teeners. It was her that she confided in with all her problems, her dreams, her ambitions…but now she’s gone, my mother did not just lose a sister, but she also lost a best friend.

The hubby and I visited her wake earlier in the week which was held at their house in Luzon. Looking at her face, she looked old and a bit withered with age and I guess with many problems in her life. I never knew she was sick with anything and her children said she probably kept her pains to herself so as not to burden them…which was why most of her relatives were surprised with her sudden passing. She had some problems with her children, well most mothers do… but I wasn’t sure it was enough to keep her depressed.

And so as she was laid down to her final resting place at Holy Cross Memorial Park, most of her children cried …maybe in regret for not loving her the way she should be loved… maybe for not being able to ask for forgiveness for all the mistakes they have made…maybe for their loneliness for losing the mother they loved. I cried, too, because I regret not being able to know her more, as my aunt and my mother’s sister and best friend…and for not being able to show my appreciation for what she has done for my mom…I cried too for my mother…since I feel her loss and desolation. I just wish she would get over Mama Fe’s death soon and learn to accept her passing no matter how difficult.