You first met your lolo when you were three months old. Daddy, Mommy, and you went to
Tacloban to celebrate Christmas that year. Your lolo said you looked like your Daddy so much that he kept calling
you Vinchy.
You saw your lolo again one year later in Manila. A horrendous hurricane hit
Tacloban in November 2013 that family members residing in the city fled to
Manila. Lolo does not like staying in
Manila for protracted periods but he was prevailed to stay on with us this time
since conditions were abysmal in Tacloban for several weeks: there was no
electricity and water supply, there was scarcity of food and medicines, there
were hardly medical facilities left standing, public transportation was unreliable,
one had to stand in long queues before being able to buy gasoline, telecommunication
was almost non-existent, and there was absolute chaos for several weeks. According
to one of Mommy’s former colleagues who went to Tacloban to render medical
assistance a few days after the hurricane, the city looked like it was bombed –
homes were flattened, the coconut trees lining the airport to the city were
gone, people were moving around dazed and without direction, and bodies were
lying on the roads unclaimed. Grey and mud puddles were everywhere.
It was during this terrible time that our
family weaved a cocoon of security around itself and we stayed together,
comforting each other. While we were thankful that our family members have
managed to stay safe during the hurricane and were able to move to safer
places, we prayed and grieved for those who were not so fortunate. For weeks we all stayed together – lolo, lola, your uncles, aunties, and cousins.
They say that there is a silver lining in
every cloud. Now that lolo has passed on, we treasure those
days in Manila. Those days we spent with lolo
were probably the longest since Mommy left home at 18 years old, save for the
summer vacations when she was at law school. We treasure those days because
those were the last we spent with lolo:
enjoying his wit, his sense of humour, and his sage advice.
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| Christmas 2013 |
Integrity, humility, love of family, hard work,
simplicity in living one’s daily life – these were the tenets that lolo consistently lived by and
constantly exhorted us to adopt, teaching by example. He was not one for quick
fixes but one who laboured assiduously trying to find a solution to perplexing
problems. His workshop was a marvel with all sorts of gadgetry and inventions. Mommy
has thought about having his innovations patented at one point, but lolo was a man who only sought to
provide his clients with efficient service and practical answers to their
everyday issues. While he prided himself at being one of the very few Professional
Mechanical Engineers in the region, he was not overly concerned
with establishing legacies, always saying that everything is part of the cycle
of life.
People who did not really know him and were
aware of his intelligence and innovativeness, might have been tempted to
conclude that lolo was a man lacking
in ambition. Lolo however, was one of those rare breed of men who had that
uncanny discernment early in life of what truly mattered. He was a man who eschewed frivolities, always
preferring substance. He put God first; he loved and provided for his family; and he enjoyed his work. Thus, he was able to remain humble in his everyday dealings.
He cared deeply for lola. He did not like being away from home for more than a couple
of days, always wondering whether lola
was eating properly. When he flew back to Tacloban after the hurricane and lola stayed on in Manila, for a couple
of weeks to help us out, lolo always
asked how lola was. He wanted to make
sure that lola was always being taken
care of.
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| February 2012 |
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| Christmas 2003 |
After lolo
was buried, we stayed in Tacloban for a week staying with our family. It
was during this week that you turned one year and 11 months. We were thinking
before of having a big birthday party for you in Tacloban when you turn Two. But
that will not come to materialise now.
Instead, we celebrated your month before
turning Two quietly with family. Nothing complicated, nothing organised, just
going with the flow, happy at just being together. Come to think of it, this is
what how lolo just wanted things. As lolo loved to say, “Simple life, simple
problems.”
Mommy is certain lolo was with us that day, grinning from ear to ear, happy that his
family was all together. If there was one thing that was sure to make lolo happy, it was seeing his brood
under one roof, breaking bread.
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