By: Telly Gonzaga-Ocampo
Carnations and many more
October is the 95th birthday of my bff in Tacloban: Rosario Omega Daa. If only we had the best of weather without the earthquake, abtik gyud ko mosakay for Tacloban. You just don’t know the kind of friendship we have. This is the kind of friendship whose bond is stronger than blood.
October 7 is the 95th birthday of that bff of mine in Tacloban. I promised her to be there but the weather and the arthquate became a deterrent to a long planned travel. I am now 79 years old with partial disability. Kon bata-bata pa unta ko karon, abtik pa ko sa manatad ga mularga kung Tacloban na ang hisgutan.
Tacloban to us was h ome for 20years and in our stay there, we gained friends who are more than family. Allow me to talk about them.
Pacita came home all the way from California. From our original group, there’s just 5 of us living: Inday, Mana Clarissa, Anita, Pacita and me. Five of us are widowed. One perished in Yolanda in a common grave, Pacita and Mana Clarissa in America joining her children, Anita and Inday crossing the seas to be with her children in America every now and then. Messenger connects us living friends except for mana Clarissa who shuns technology. At times, it’s her daughter who updates me with important milestones in their lives in America.
Our friendship started with our children in the 70’s. At that time there was only 1 nursery school in Tacloban: The United Church of Christ in the Philippines. We were young mothers then, accompanying our young children to school. At that time, we were staying in a barangay a bit far from the city proper. So I had to stay the whole morning in that little school until my husband’s lunch break from work. I would bring my 3 children to nursery school. This group of mine started with Inday, she hailing from Ormoc and a Canadian. Tacloban is Waraynon and Ormoc is Cebuano Bisaya. The wonders of language. In Waray, ano heton? In Cebuano, unsa kana? It was the language barrier that made us close. The closeness became closer and the closer became forever.
We went out together with our children, until we built our homes nearer each other.
Our Sunday get together became rarer when the children were in college. They already had their own schedules and other set of friends. Almost every afternoon we met at Mana Clarissa’s or at our place since Sto. Niño church is just a block away. We were just a walking distance to the children’s school, church, and the downtown area.
We sent a bouquet of carnations to Inday, not at the price mansion, the party venue, but to her abode early on the morning of the 7th. I’ve asked for roses, but a florist friend of ours, Isabelle, recommended carnations. Roses are for the young and dreamy.
I thank Isabel for that. I admire her for her art and industry. She has retired from her work at the bank of the Phil Islands. After retirement, she continued the business of her aunt. They are just across the house we used to have. The Quinteros of Tacloban.
There are other birthday celebrators on this date, October 7: Rosario Bolofer and Rosario Oppus. Their names are in the almanaking catoliko – the feast of the holy rosary.
In this critical period of our nation today, I truly miss the company of Inday. Even at our age, we still care about what is happening in the Philippines and we still express our disgust on the abuses of our leaders.
How I wish our days of carnations and roses are back!
