It has been a while since I posted here on Blogger. It has really been a while. I have not yet formulated a plan on which blogs and which websites I would be posting whatever to. It's not finalized yet.
For now, there are picture posts on Google+ (andoy.castellano), as well as on Tumblr (Bolinao Sunset and Portraits and Profiles). I also post pictures on Facebook. I still write some blog articles. However, I try not to write any rants because I noticed that my posts have mostly been rants of late. I would not want to keep writing blog posts if these are mainly from negative feelings.
Unfortunately, this post is about negative feelings.
Two cousins died a day apart this week. Ate Evelyn Caluya died Sunday. For a devout Catholic, like Ate Evelyn, dying on the Divine Mercy Sunday is significant. There is the belief that dying on this day, the Catholic would go straight to Heaven. I went to the wake last night, and she was scheduled to be created this morning. She works at Malacanang and has been there for the longest time. She is the second of three children, and the only daughter of my Auntie Lily. She was 62.
Life is about choices, and her choices have been big and large. She was part of the first class of WACs. She quit, that and has been with the Catholic lay ministries since then. I think she got her work at Malacanang due to political connections. Her dad was a friend and townmate of President Marcos's Executive Secretary. I admit that my mom made use of those connections as well.
I think it was her choice to stay single. Or at least she didn't like her suitors. But the biggest choice she made was with her work with the Church. I doubt if she minded the money she was earning. She had a house in Cogeo. But since that's quite a distance from her office, she opted to be a bedspacer in San Miguel, a short walk from the gates of Malacanang. It was literally a small space, enough for a bed and her day to day things.
She spent most of her free time helping others. That was her life: others first, before herself. Complete strangers, and others which the ministry she joined were helping.
I was saddened by the news of her death. At her wake, I found out that my other cousin, who lives in Iligan City died Monday. Susan and I were the same age. She grew up in Iligan City, in Mindanao, an engineer like her dad. We didn't meet very often. But we've been like close friends since we were kids. The news of her death numbed and shocked me. I have not recovered. I need some time to get over this.
Susan had cancer, and she was undergoing chemo and radiation therapy. It was that serious. She was diagnosed with cancer even before her dad, Tiong Dodo, died.
Susan and Evelyn were both my mom's nieces. My mom has survived all her brothers and a sister.
Questions of mortality and immortality have hung over me for a while now. It is a continuing theme when you're nearing 50.
