'Ohana means family, family means nobody gets left behind. Or forgotten.'
- Lilo (Lilo and Stitch)
Tita Elvie is one of the most thoughtful people I know and will ever know in my life. Ever since I was a child, she never failed to bring me pasalubong. As a kid, she’s that one person I run to when I need financial help because I am in dire need of 2 pesos, I still remember my wide smile when she gives me 5 pesos, instead of just 2. There was this time when she texted me for a favor and I asked her if it was okay to do it a little later because I wasn’t feeling good. Instead of saying just “ok”, she replied with this long message telling me to rest, drink lots of water and Gatorade to avoid dehydration since I was also having diarrhea at that time. I was about to send her a thank you message when my brother knocked on my room and handed me this large bottle of Gatrade saying it was from tita. This happened during the time when she can no longer walk, I had tears in my eyes and was so touched with her thoughtfulness. Tita Elvie worried and cared about the people around her so much that when someone is in pain, she immediately gives them first aid and advices them to see the doctor. Maybe she’s too concerned of her loved-ones that she forgot that she needs to take care too and see the doctor herself. What some of you know might not know is that Tita chose to be single and not to have a child because she was scared that her kid would get the sickness she had when she was young, that’s just how kind and unselfish she is.
I would definitely miss the way tita says the words, “ruler” and “certificate”, how we’d laugh when she stutters and how she’d laugh at herself too when she sees the delight in our eyes. I’d miss how she gets instant solutions to household problems, the way she’d scold on the little kids when they are too noisy and how she’d sing “ikaw na nga” along side Zachary. How she tells kiray, coleen and xyrin they’re pretty and darell, Michael and jj that they’ve grown up. I’d miss how she says hi to zacheo and rojan, how she’d share to me and apple her life. I’d miss seeing her on my siblings’ PTA meetings because my mom could not make it. I would miss her accompanying my sisters to school during their family day. Most of all, I would miss her funny laugh, her caring heart and the way she tells me I am not payatot because that word is for the poor, but SLENDER, because I am “sosyal” according to her.
Seeing tita elvie hurt during the past few months pains me. But what struck me is her poise and grace under pressure, her strength and her unfailing faith. I would have given up earlier than she did if I was in her place, but she, has always been the real warrior princess, never giving up. During the most painful time of her sickness, I would always see her make the sign of the cross, and whisper “Dyos ko, tulungan nyo po ako”. I always see her pray the rosary and that reminded me that there is always God that I can talk to and ask for help if I wanted to. I never wanted her to leave me, but I could not stand seeing her in pain, so I prayed that God would finally ease it, and if that means that we can no longer be together here on earth physically, then let it be, because I know he’d take care of her in heaven. I just never thought it would be this soon, that the pain I have for losing her remains unbearable.
They say that each and everyone of us would have that moment when we will see our lives flashing back right before our eyes, I envy my tita elvie, for I am sure that what she saw were all beautiful and worth flashing.
**on our way to Eternal Gardens this afternoon, during the convoy, i saw this white butterfly flying around my dad's car. It was white, tita's favorite color. I sure was happy to feel that she is now at peace and with God.
**TITA ELVIE, you will never be forgotten as you are part of my "OHANA".
**to the rest of the cruz's, thank you so much for helping me find comfort and strength in your arms. :)
