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     She was among the one who loved me unconditionally the first time she saw me. That was when I burped often, was incontinent, and cried a lot. What do you expect, I was less than a week old!

     Aunty Stella. She was a second mother to me. She doted on me and spoiled me like any good aunt should. But then, we left Davao for Cagayan de Oro. My first memories of Samal Island would always have her there, smiling at me.  

     She never married. She was smart and beautiful (my mother’s side had more than their fair share of beauties), but I could not figure out why she never started a family.

     So, when she got news that she was struck with cervical cancer, a disease that is more prevalent among those who never had children, she was hit with regret. It was my nephew’s birthday party, and there were a lot of kids running around having the time of their lives, yelling and laughing and eating cake and ice cream and throwing balloons at each other.  It was a happy occasion, but one thought entered her mind: “sayang…”

     It broke my heart when she told me that she cried afterwards.

     I feared for her health, but she reassured me that she had already come to terms with her disease. God wouldn’t give her a burden that she cannot carry, and when things get too tough for her, there’s always God. She told me those things with a smile, and with eyes that were full of peace.

     I hugged her and held her hand then.  I saw what faith had done to her. No other form of therapy could’ve done what faith did for her.

     Sailors of old used stars to find their way in the dark sea. She had been given the right name: in this darkness now, before the stark truth of mortality, she had shown me the way. She is my star.

This entry was posted on Friday, February 27th, 2009 at 7:53 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.