:: The Car Lot ::

Friday, July 22, 2005

At the San Juan church in Hagonoy, Bulacan two coffins lay side by side, my uncles. They would have their last mass together. I sat in the second row beside my mum, my wife, my sister-in-law, my brother, and my sister. In front sat my mum's brother's wife, 3 daughters, 2 sons-in-law, 3 granddaughters. I could see their shoulders elevate and their neck muscles tense as they tried to catch their breath from the sadness that wouldn't let them breathe. I looked over to my right and my dad's relatives were also drowning in tears, difficulty in breathing. After the mass they were buried in two different adjacent cemeteries. I went with my mum. We all walked to the cemetery which was 50 meters or so from the church. When they opened up his coffin for the last time, the shoulders went higher and repetitions hastened, their neck muscles tensed even stronger. There were wimpers now, they could no longer hold their sadness inside. I held my mum, because that was all that I could do. The harder she cried the tighter I held her. She sobbed with the sadness I hope I will never know. I tried so desperately to be strong but it broke my heart to see her so and I couldn't contain my tears. I looked around and my wife, my brother, my brother's wife, my sister, my Kuya Willie all had tears, the smiles they always wore transformed into closed lips trying to keep the sadness at bay. The people left and we stood in the afternoon sun as the bricklayers and my uncle's son-in-law closed the tomb with bricks, sand, water, and cement. My brother ferried us home as most of us had walked from the wake to the church. It had been a long day. My uncle lived a quiet life, and fittingly so was his funeral, maybe angels came down to help his family cry softly, from the heart. You have to believe in angels. You have to believe in God because at times, they are all you have.

If you feel like taking time to pray for them and their families, they were Eduardo Dela Cruz, carpenter, and Catalino Halili, farmer. R.I.P.+

Dr. Jayson Arellano Left the Car Lot @ 9:46 AM

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