so it's my birthday, the first one i spent in my hometown in a very long time..and my uncle just died. coincidence is annoying sometimes.
he was my mother's older sister's husband. he was really good to me when i was a kid, but he was one of those people that are so kind and good with kids but relatively almost horrible to other people, that is when it comes to money.
i call him daddy, and my aunt mommy. i call mama and papa another uncle-aunt couple. my mom and dad, i call them nanay and tatay.
last memory i can recall of him was when i was still a kid. i may have seen him a few times when i got older but i have no recollection of any of it at all. i used to visit them as a kid almost everyday to play with my cousins and also because they were the well-off family with more toys and their fridge had more food. but i barely visited when i started college and was allowed inside information of what was really happening with our family. the lands that were grabbed and transferred ownership without the knowledge of everybody. the crops that vanished without landing a single banana or coconut or a grain of rice on our porch. i hated them for it. i asked my mom..no i demanded my mom not to care anymore and just let them have what they wanted. a fraction of land would probably do us good, but i thought we lived without it all our lives anyway, and my father couldn't care less. we always play the bigger person. always. i'm pretty sure i swore not to forgive them for how they treated my mom and took advantage of her pure kindness.
me and my cousins have no conflict at all whatsoever, but we became the collateral victims in this, and i miss them sometimes. when i heard he fell sick, i felt sorry..of course. as one of my aunt's verbatim, "kahit pala masama ang ugali, nakakaawa din pag mamamatay na." i considered visiting everytime i was in town, which is very rare, but i just couldn't find the time. and i swear i had this mind story of saving him in one of my hero thoughts. like paying for his hospital bill or something like that.
he will always be the uncle who will give me 5 pesos whenever i ask for 2. i forgave him already. i forgave all of them already. but i didn't let go soon enough. i didn't let go soon enough. goodbye daddy.
