Caroleen’s Treasures

March 24 

 Yesterday at 3 a.m. Donald found me still infront of my pc getting more and more addicted to this thing. He was annoyed seeing me wide awake and told me to go to bed. I refused thinking that if I’d go to sleep I may not be awake at 6 a.m. to catch the 1st trip to Kabacan. He is much concerned about my weight loss. I had this problem of easily loosing appetite when so much engrossed in something, lack of sleep and stress. For just a couple of week, my weight has gotten from 45kgs down to 42kgs.

At 6 a.m. I started to get dressed then had some things packed that we might be needing there. I woke up Donald and then Ella, get them ready and by 7 a.m. we are off to the terminal. We waited for 2 hours for the puv (public utility van), there is not much people travelling and we should wait for the seats to be filled. Ella is irritated and began fussing around. We are very sleepy since Ella and Donald was up watching a movie until 3 a.m.  Ella had slept on the way, Donald had also took a nap.  When we arrived at Kabacan, we went straight to my cousin’s place and had lunch at past 1p.m. Ella had the drawing she made for my cousin Sherwin and put it in his casket. The picture of it was posted in Ella’s blog. I had a brief talk with Aunt Lenny (Sherwin’s mom). A neighbor found his body with a note on his hand. There was also a note in the calendar saying how much he loved his family and asked for forgiveness of all that he had done. He also encircled the date 17 on the calendar, the day he ended his life.

In the evening, people started pouring in. It was the last night of the wake. I had slept in the afternoon and I thought I could stay awake the whole night until morning. I just thought I could do that…but what I did was sleep again with Ella and other 4 cousins in just a twin bed.

March 25

I woke up still feeling sore. I was feeling this way since yesterday. We started getting ready for the devotional and necrological service which started at 8:30. The cousins were all in the other side and we sang Sherwin’s favorite songs ( a little bit off key because everyone is crying ).

March 26

It’s still dark when I woke up. It was still 3:30 am on my phone’s clock. Ella was also awakened by a dream. She dreamed about my mother and we talked for awhile. She had gone back to sleep in a moment and I started playing on my celphone. Before 6 am I went straight to my mother’s grave beside my grandparent’s lot. The weeds were all over and the plants are barely surviving. I pulled the weeds and fixed the potted plants. Before 9 am I was done. I then went to my Aunt Emy’s house to help prepare for a thanksgiving dinner tonight (two of my cousin’s kids are graduating from elementary today). I am always on call for flower arrangements and hall preparation. I was right again, I made bouquets for the teachers and helped mix the salad for tonight. Before lunch I went back to my grandparents house and laid my back on the floor. It hurts again. My cousin Sherwin always massaged my back and now he’s gone I would miss his magic touch. Donald brought me lunch. I found a reader’s digest magazine and was engrossed on it until I had dozed off to sleep.

It was raining when I woke up by my Aunt Letty’s call ( you see I have 10 pairs of aunts and uncles ), they are looking for me to do final touches of the hall. Donald was there fixing the banner so I just stood there giving orders The rain hadn’t stopped and the visitors started to arrive. It was a busy day indeed but I enjoyed the company of my cousins. Only a few cousins, nephew and nieces are in the photo. If we are all going to pose for a portrait, there will be at least 3 batches or so (we would not fit in the lense *lol).

March 27

Feeling much fatigue from yesterday’s weeding on my mother’s grave. Donald gave me a massage. Everyone was going about their own activites but I still would want to sleep. I did not eat breakfast and lunch. I just laid in bed waiting for my body to gather strength to go to the bathroom and prepare to go back to Davao. It was already past 4 pm when we headed for the terminal. We took a bus instead of puv. I felt very hungry on the way and I could not let Donald buy me something to eat since Ella was spread across our laps. It was 9 pm when we get here in my sister’s place. The dogs waggled their tails upon seeing Ella. I wanted to post for my blog right away but checked other blogs instead.

March 28

I was up until 4am this morning. When I was about to sleep, I felt hungry again so I had an early breakfast before finally going to bed. When I woke up, it was raining and dark, I checked the time and it was already 5pm! Whew! What a lazy day it is…..