(A Tribute to Tita Nena)“It
might be really hard to leave someone you love so much behind; specially, your children”
Tita Nena’s life, to me, is a success story of someone whose “Love” triumphs over fleeting health or even death. I cannot fathom the harsh moments she went through. But I did witness the fortitude, the grit and the unwavering faith to stay on, one day at a time, for those she dearly held in her heart.
I would say Tita Nena embodied a somewhat fairy-tale life story. You see, when a beautiful girl, like Nena, hails from a barrio (Victoria, Tarlac), goes to the big city (Manila), marries the “man of her dreams”, then, soon raises a beautiful family, beautifies & keeps a “kingdom” of her own (I remember at Dapitan, then, later on, at Fairview, where me and my cousins spent lovely summers together), with such a fabulous garden she maintains with passion, ahhh, that is such a success life story of a MOTHER and a WIFE.
But for us, who grew up with Tita Nena, I learned that to keep all of these “SPIC & SPAN” at a lifetime, nothing can ever be a fairy-tale. For my Tita, it took a lot of work; a lot of skills; a lot of patience to win over the threatening nuisances of life. Like with her gardening, one must always be vigilant to keep the “peace”. Certainly, only a woman of virtues can live this way.
With her, I witnessed exceptional organizational skills of a great home-maker. I also saw a strong personality that exercised “tough love” to express truth, from her perspectives. This was her way of teaching us, her youngsters; of helping us grow; of hoping to make things right for her family. But, most of all, she showed me what a “woman of FAITH” is.
With just that, she is, indeed, a story of SUCCESS.
Yet, even at the late stage of her life, she awed me more with so much HUMAN STRENGTH. Suffering with Parkinson’s disease for 20 years and, then, with a rare case of cancer which was with nil chance of treatment at her age of 79 … I don’t know? I always wondered, “how can a woman withstand all these? “Where does she get her fighting spirit?” And, yet, whenever I visited her, she knew ME and her LOVED ONES by heart …
I know it is but LOVE … For, just like in her lifetime, it was LOVE for FAMILY that always helped her triumph over all the hurdles.
Again, I say, “It must have been harder for her to leave her children and family than the health pains … it must have been heavier at heart unless she knows everything would be SPIC & SPAN”.
So to my cousins, who are grieving now, I guess, your Mom, my Tita Nena, finally, knew the day has come. Everything is in order. You and I are ready. She now can rest in peace …
“Go and have a wonderful reunion with our beloved ones in Heaven now, Tita Nena. We will keep our lives SPIC & SPAN to make you proud. Pray for our journey as you look down from heaven above us …
