By Telly G. Ocampo
Little Things Mean A Lot
I’m simply trying to divert my mind from the sadness of my loss of two classmates who died two weeks apart from each other. This is also aside from my loss of my own husband of 52 years. This is also just like having lost my mother years back. Though we are already in the sunset years of our lives, still, I feel that my loved ones have died too soon. My sadness reminds me of a song of long ago entitled, “Little Things Mean a Lot.”
First, I will be talking about my classmates in high school. Luisita Garces died two weeks after Caridad Galola and both were teachers. When they were in their practice teaching stint in college, Luisita stayed with the family of Caridad, together with Nenita Pamil and Madge Pates Hipos. So, Madge was present to pay her last respect to our classmates Luisita and Caridad. Nenita Pamil could not be around as she is in the United States now, but, she is the one updating us, her classmates, of recent events.
What I remember most of Luisita was her motherly gesture of giving us merienda during her weekly visit to her children: bringing saging, camote, fruits in season and takla. We were externs, then, at the St. Joseph College of Tagbilaran City, and we stayed at the structure along the corner of Borja St. and CPG ave., just across the parlor of the school and the nun’s convent at the upper floor. Both edifices are gone now as they have already been demolished.
Manang Aurora (my sister) and I joined the Manding girls and our other cousins in responding to that lure of staying together as externs. Ang among katuyuan niadto mao ang among kasayon nga dili na mi mosayo ug atang-atang sa sakyanan padulong sa Tagbilaran gikan sa Baclayon. Among gitawag among sakyanan kaniadto ug “Thames”. There were other girl externs from Loon and two of them became SSpS nuns.
These gestures of kindness represented by the saging, the fruits, the takla, etc., are the little things that are permanently embedded in my memory and will never be obliterated as time passes by.
When the earthquake struck Bohol in 2013, I never expected many calls from old and new friends including my homestay guests who used to occupy rooms at The Blue Apartelle.
There was Chris Calugay from the career service board. Nangumusta gyud siya namo dayon paghuman sa linog. When she and her group came to Bohol before the earthquake, they asked me to lecture on community organizing with owners of the Bahandi-Baclayon ancestral homes for new development initiatives. The group was composed of career executives in government. To break the boredom of lectures, I had music as a starter. Thank you for the music. It was like bringing them back in time when there were no hightech gadgets as luxury items.
There was also Je De Veza who participated in the dragon boat competition in Dauis. He opted to stay in the quiet space of my Blue Apartelle. I did not know that he was a popular character in the GMA telenovelas.
Trixie Valdes was another guest for our Bahandi walking tour who, immediately after the earthquake, called us for things we needed. She promised to bring these things as soon as she would come to Bohol to visit us on her birthday – after the earthquake. I told her that I just wanted a Pampanga Parol and she did bring me two in order to brighten a gloomy Christmas of 2013. She also skipped her birthday party, and instead, used the money intended for the celebration – a substantial amount – for our church in Baclayon. This church was severely damaged by the earthquake.
In a related scenario, when we built our house in Tacloban, there was a construction worker whom we kept until the house was done. He knew that I loved plants and I loved collecting orchids, too. “Ma’am tatagaan ta ikaw hin recuerdo. May ada orchids nga mabusag ug mahumot ha amon sa babatngon?, he said. (Ma’am I will give you a souvenir. I will give you white orchids that smell sweet from my hometown in Babatngon.) Indeed, he gave me white dove orchids. I brought all these to Bohol – to my mother’s house together with all the other orchids that I treasure. But my orchids died with my mother. I realized that they have to be tended, too, like children.
There were other several calls from my friends in Tacloban, most of all from Mana Lily Colinares. I was nice remembering how she bonded with my other bff, Inday Omega Daa and Mana Julit Quintero. The saddest part was Mana Lily’s body could not be found as it was swept away by the fierceness of typhoon Yolanda.
Those are beautiful memories forever treasured in my heart. Those are memories of little things they did for me and for my family that mean a lot. I miss them. I miss those little things including the people, the places, and the souvenirs.
Looking back at those treasured moments make me laugh, cry and smile in the sunset years of my life – of my friends’ lives.
Jose R. Ong, Lina Bong, Virgilia Lim Yap, Rizalina Andoy Plaza, Milagros Ayaay, Andressa Andoy – my girl Friday, Milagros Calope Galvan, and me.
Luisita’s bboys: Christopher, Ferdinand, and Jefferson.