angels on earth

If there's anything good that came out of my mother's sickness: We found kind, goodhearted, and caring persons.

First, there is Kyle. He was working at the SM Supermarket where my mother and father always go. Through the years, he developed an affinity and attachment with my mother, and my mother treats him like a pamangkin. When he found out that my mother became sick with cancer, he really felt sad. One day, he offered that he would just take care of my mother. Before the family could insist that he should just stay put in his work, having really no other means of subsistence, he resigned from work. Thereafter, he came home with my parents to the province and took care of my mom. With his gay lingo, he makes my mother laugh. (Eventually, he got closer to my grandmother and stayed her for a while, before going back to Manila to work again.)

Then, there's my friend's mother who instructed her daughter to deposit money to my account without telling me. She knew that these were hard times for the family, and despite her own expenses, she saved some for me. Actually, she volunteered once to help me in the finances things with money she could spare and asked for my account number. I respectfully declined her offer, knowing she too has expenses of her own.

Then, there's the wife of my father's brother. Despite the loneliness of leaving her household for a few days, including her 7-year-old daughter, she would still accompany my mother during her chemotherapy sessions. Knowing that my mother is scared every time, she was there to prepare my mother's meals when she's sick in body and offer words of comfort when she's sick in heart.

Then, there's my father's sister. Despite being used to not staying at home and busying herself with the activities in the community (she's single), she willingly came with my father to Manila to help out in household things and again, in taking care of my mother. She patiently endured the boredom through several days, cracking jokes now and then, with the obvious effort to make my mother laugh.

And there's many more. Such good memories these people bring to my family, and I would keep them in this digital frame. They and the good deeds they bring would forever be remembered. It's a reminder that life is not so bad after all.