I'm sure that if my brother-in-law had his way, he didn't want to go that way. He was a very low-keyed, quiet, fellow. I really don't know him very well because when he was courting my sister, I used to stand by the door and turn him away. He must have been frustrated with me so he left Asingan and worked in Olongapo for sometime, then he was conscripted in the Philippine Army, came home again and for a short time, he was in the police force at the time my father was serving as the civil registrar in the treasurer's office. He really took advantage of his opportunity when I left Asingan for college in Baguio. Before the first semester was over, he and my sister got married. But he turned out to be a good brother-in-law.
I remember when my brother left for England. He offered to sell one of his carabaos to augment the money that my father gave my brother. He tilled the little farm that we had and he became my parents' trusted hand when it comes to farming. (Had I stayed there, it would have been me.) When my father passed away in Guam, we brought him back to the Philippines for burial and his wake was at my brother-in-law's little house. He later immigrated to Guam with my sister and their youngest son, Michael who is now in the Navy. He didn't like Guam, so he went back home and did what he liked doing - farming, until he was diagnosed with prostatic carcinoma 18 months before he passed away. We did everything that we could afford to save him but it was too late because his cancer had already metatacised to his spinal cord causing him paralysis from the waist down. One of his two daughters resigned from her nursing job to take care of him. We all pitched in for his chemo at St. Luke and I sent him medications but I knew, it was a losing battle. At least he knew that we tried everything possible to win a losing battle and that he was loved by us all.
Ben Soloria
No comments:
Post a Comment