Yesterday, Papa posted a question in his blogsite... 'Why do bad things happen to good people?'

Why indeed? Recently, I learned that my aunt...my mom's younger sister, Lorna to friends, Auntie Bebot to me, my siblings and cousins, Lola Esy to grandchildren... is now living all alone in her house in the country. She's still working as an English teacher, maybe contemplating retirement in a couple of years time. She has two daughters, the youngest of whom left several years ago to live with her father (estranged from my aunt since their children were small) in the States, and is now married. The eldest daughter used to live with her, with her husband and baby daughter in tow. Now the daughter has towed them out... ergo, my aunt is all by her lonesome.

I'm really worried about her. She has diabetes and every now and then her blood pressure shoots up and she suffers from dizzy spells. I'm worried that when she has these attacks, nobody would be there to attend to her. Undoubtedly, she would be lonely, with all her family gone. I'm worried that she won't eat right cause it really isn't fun eating all alone... phfftt!, tell me about it. I'm worried that she'll forget to take her pills and there'd be nobody there to remind her. I'm worried about her safety, being all alone in the house. Last weekend I called to ask how she was. She was at a friend's house, attempting to laugh her sorrows away in the company of friends. She didn't want to talk about it lest it made her cry. She said she was alright and told me not to worry... in a voice that somehow struck me as a cry for help... a bit loud with an unmistakable forced animation.

Auntie Bebot is special to me. She's the one who took care of me when my mom had to go back to work 2 months after giving birth to me. My aunt was in college then, studying in the city and living with us. I don't remember how long she stayed with us though. My earliest recollection of her was when I was already a little girl, standing on our huge sofa, between her and a suitor (an old doctor with a slightly balding head). When I was going through school, we didn't have much of a communication. In fact, I didn't develop any closeness with her daughters. I guess we were so wrapped up in our own lives, mutually using daily ratrace as a convenient excuse for the lack of correspondence ( a subject that somehow was never brought up until now... of course, if it ever was, it would be a useless discussion). This being the case though, I always knew what was going on in my aunt's life... how her husband became incommunicado after several years of stay in the States and consequently failed to support her and their children... how she managed to have her house built, a portion at a time, to become the spacious and well-adorned house it now is... when she was diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure... how she's been up for promotion as school principal on several occassions but have always dodged it... how she's taken up smoking inspite of her health conditions (some maverick... hehehe)... that she's a real wheeler-dealer when it comes to mahjong and would spend many late nights playing the game she loves, but not unwittingly.

Several years back, my aunt invited us to the country for the weekend. It was her birthday, and since one of my nieces celebrates her birthday on the same day, it became some sort of reunion. Everybody enjoyed that weekend very much. So much so that whenever something comes up that would grant a celebration, the first venue that would come to mind would be my aunt's place. When we got together again after a long time, it was like getting to know my aunt all over again. I saw she was a cool mom... her daughters can talk to her about anything, and she with them. She's a good cook too... she makes good nata de coco (one of my favorite delicacies), sapin-sapin, maja blanca, lengua de gato, and a lot more. At one point, we got to talking about life... my life more specifically, and it was... I don't know... quite a sobering conversation. It made me feel really sorry for all the years we've lost... for all the years I've had to deal with life's biggest questions all by myself, when all along I had my aunt I could have talked to.

I don't know what happened between her and my cousins. But for whatever reason, she doesn't deserve this... if only for the virtue of being a mother, for crying out loud. Good or bad, a parent should never have to be deserted. She's a really wonderful person... a live and let live kind of spirit with a gift of accepting people as they are. She's also very nurturing... and she's my friend. But what can we do, right? Shit happens as Papa said. But why indeed?