WE will all get OLD, no matter how young we are now. Aging is a fact of life for every human being. Our modern world is so taken up with sensuality that it sees growing old as growing decadent. NO one or maybe a few SEES that getting old is increasing and growing of the spiritual and immaterial “self”, the most noble in a person: the SOUL! I am so inspired to write about my grandmother. She is almost 90 years old. She no longer venture out in the neighborhoods. She stays homebound. If my mama is doing chores, she is so ALONE. (Friends and relatives visit, but most of the time, they are too busy with life). She has less motivation for self care. Mama does almost everything for her (bathing, grooming, preparing food, keeping her hydrated….so sad when you become old), but in spite of all these, she had never loss the one thing that made her so SPECIAL, her THOUGHTFULNESS!!! My grandmother is the most thoughtful person I have ever known. When we were younger, she did everything for us. She made sure that food was always ready on the table. You didn’t need to worry if you fail to arrive on time for meal, because there was surely something left for you. Whenever we siblings don’t come down for dinner, (either we were busy studying or just hanging out in the room…chatting and bonding), she brought us food or milk or anything we can share. She ever allow anyone to skip a meal. She knocks at our door every minute until we were forced to come down and have something. Her persistence made us all mad, especially if we were doing something more important than just having something to eat. My grandmother is strong willed and very opinionated. Among the 4 of us, I was the one who had the most fights with her. Just try to imagine 2 strong willed, highly opinionated and stubborn individuals clashing together, nevertheless, I love her so much. In spite of her age, the confused state, the abrupt change in behavior (due to her diagnosed but not fully treated UTI), I have seen evidence of her strength (she didn’t succumb to high level of infections that she had for nearly 2 months) and the many evidences of her thoughtfulness: When we were on vacation, She repeatedly tells us to eat almost very minute. Whenever we leave the house, she stays outside, sitting on a chair. She waits for us all to come home. Although, when ask if she REMEMBER us, she just looked at us, confused, trying to figure out WHO we are. Whenever she saw me going out at night, I would find her awake after midnight or whatever time I come home. Ask, why she was still awake. She will say, “an usa nga anak ni imo mama waray pa umuli” (one of your mother’s child is not yet home). One time, my son woke up before me. He asked me if he can go downstairs and wait there until I am ready for breakfast. As soon as he opened the door, I heard him say “good morning, great grandma”. That made me jumped out of the bed. Nanay was not supposed to be climbing up the stairs. I asked her why she came up, she told me, “WE DIDN’T HAVE BREAKFAST YET”. One sundown, mama found her at the kitchen, trying to cook rice. When asked, she said, “IT WAS GETTING DARK AND THERE WAS NO COOKED RICE”. The action could have caused a fire, but who has the heart to get mad at her? There are many things that my grandmother used to do for us, and still remembers to do until this time, in spite of her confusions. She is one in a million grandmother. I say, the reason why we are sensitive to the needs of other people, why we care so much about one another and why we care about other people, is because of our NANAY. She showed us the true meaning of love and care, of being selfless, of being thoughtful. WHY do we pay attention to her TOO much, even just skipping a meal at dinner? My answer: LOVE BEGETS LOVE.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 10:50:32 +0000
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