the rain stops, too

There is this saying "when it rains, it pours" signifying an abundance of something fortunate (or unfortunate)happening in one's life. I think, basing on my previous posts, my life has had an abundance of very nice things happening. Well, the past posts had been about celebrations here and there, right? There was Mickey's graduation, my happy married life, which is actually a prelude to my wife's birthday, our 21st wedding anniversary, and my coming trip to Canada next week. When it rains it pours, right? Well, the rain, no matter how strong, stops, too.

Yesterday morning, while I was getting ready to go to my mom's house, my brother called to inform me that our aunt, (the only aunt I've known), who we all fondly call "Mommy" is at the ICU fighting for her life. The details are still unclear to me but last Thursday, while accompanying a blind neighbor to a friend's house to guarantee for a loan, she complained of the terrible heat snf without any warning, collapsed. She was taken to the hospital and was later on put at the ICU.

She is my mother's older sister. She's 89 years old. The thing is, while my mother is now suffering from alzheimer's disease, my aunt is still strong and very lucid. When I was growing up, my mother snf my aunt would always tell me that they sang duets when they were much younger. If I remember correctly, they sang regularly in a radio show. My mother would sing the melody while "mommy" sang "second voice". As if to prove their story, they would sing for me while I accompany them with my guitar. They do sing in harmony albeit missing lyrics here and there. You know, the kundiman types. It was from them that I got to know that my grandfather was a judge, a violinist and a composer. Unfortunately, none of his compositions ever surfaced to my knowledge. It was from "mommy" that I learned that my grandfather looked exactly like me. There was a time when she even took out a picture of my grqndfather to prove her point, but honestly, I couldn't make head or tails from that old picture as it was so small, (ID size) and was blurry probably due to the length of time she kept it in her wallet (or whereever she took it from when she showed it to me). My grandfather died when they were young girls, not even teen-agers yet. My grandmother re-married to someone, a name I have forgotten, who, in fairness, had been good to them. And he died, too, so my grandmother had to be widowed twice.

At any rate, I remember my aunt with fondness. When I was growing up, she was the epitome of fun. They had a car and her visits always meant there was a cake. Usually, that would be my birthday. Once I get to see the car park near our house, I would jump with joy for it meant there'll be a lot of goodies and probably a ride in their car. Going to their house had always been a treat, too. It has always been fun for me as there had always been lots of people in their house. She had 9 children and I would assume much later on that each one in the household would have guests. It also helped that all of her children play an instrument well. Ironically, none of my siblings play an instrument, or even sing in tune! So there would be lots of singing and drinking in their house. To a child who was practically growing up alone, this meant fun.

When I got to the hospital, I couldn't look at her. I could not even say hello as I see what they have done to her just to keep her alive. Please help me pray for her. She may not survive this but hopefully, she wouldn't feel any pain.