filipino stories
-
Carmen sat on the edge of the bed, ponderously fingering her right earlobe, trying to adjust to the strangeness of her missing earring. Earlier in the day she had gotten into a playful wrestling match with her young nephew and the earring had been wretched from her ear. She and her nephew, who had been…
-
When I was a kid growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1960’s, my mom was what we called the yard teacher. School site supervisor is how the position is referred to now. Anyway, that meant all the kids knew her, saw her regularly and some even spoke to her or was…
-
I wrote this as I mourned the passing of my mother. In our culture, death is a transition. And since that day, my faith has only gotten stronger. The Final Frontier Lay your pain to rest with me And open your heart to the knowledge That I am at peace The place I left is…
-
My Philippine born mom died a little before 1PM on March 31st in 1993. My siblings and I were with her as we had chosen that time to take her off of life support. After she had passed, my brothers and sisters gave me a moment alone with her. I had been her primary care…
-
DEATH Two weeks before my mom died, she and I were sitting in the exam room of her doctor’s office. As her primary caregiver, I was present for all of her exams. The doctor had stepped out the room for a couple of minutes. She and I chatted until she abruptly stopped talking. I thought…
-
True story As my mom grew more financially secure as a single mother, she used some of her disposable income for things she had always wanted. Jewelry. Diamonds. She bought herself a pair of diamond stud earrings. When I was about 10 or 11 years old, we were robbed. The thief took our stereo, a…
-
Her life took a turn she had not foreseen. Surviving, and leaving behind, the visual memories of the war, she thought she would never again feel the darkness of life closing in around her. During the long boat ride to America, she had imagined so many things. Dreamed more dreams than her childhood had been…