Thursday
My dearest friend,
How are you? It’s summer here & the weather is kind of unforgiving lately. The air is hot & humid but sometimes we’re lucky & experience strong winds & a little bit of rain. My husband has even started to set up a birdbath on our balcony since some birds have been drinking water in our air conditioners’ drip pans.
Anyway, I wanted to ask if you have someone whom you love & treasure so dearly, like a role model who shared positive energy even when things felt hopeless. The thing is there’s this one person I want to talk to you about today. She’s the kindest, most generous person I ever knew who kept giving & sharing a part of herself with everyone around her. She shared her time & knowledge whenever she could, lit up any room she walked into because she was always present & ready to listen. She never failed to show up with her best foot forward; she expressed dedication & earned mastery in her craft.
Today, I simply want to celebrate her. So, I’ve come up with a list of some fond memories I remember about her:
–She was my cool-fun-aunt!
–I always adored her since I was a kid.
–She was the kindest person I’ve ever met.
–She smiled so beautifully & genuinely. Anytime I approached her, she was smiling. I don’t remember a single time she ever frowned at me. She accepted me wholeheartedly.
–She was a Foods teacher, a master of her craft, and a good mentor.
–She gladly taught me how to cook whenever she had the chance & I still make the things she taught me.
–She also taught me how to cut someone else’s hair.
–She always exuded confidence & didn’t shy away from conversations.
–I was so lucky to live with her during the first 15 years of my life – my family rented & shared an apartment with her even before I was born & I honestly don’t know how she endured that.
–When I was a kid, she would usually take me to campus where she worked & I get to sit in her classes- they baked & cooked lots of things & my favourite were pastries.
–She made sure she was presentable before going outside. She always dried her hair & had these cute curlers. She was also stylish & wore beautiful ensembles.
–She made sure to take care of herself & remained healthy despite baking cakes & cooking different types of dishes all day.
–We celebrated every holiday season in style because of her. The house would be too busy with so many recipes to cook & desserts to make. We also set the dining table beautifully.
–She passed down her box of recipes to me which I treasured. Her handwriting in these index cards were seamless even in cursive.
–Just like her, she also had beautiful, supportive friends.
–There was a time I cooked & experimented & made her & her friends taste it. They all pretended that it was a good meal even though I knew what I cooked tasted weird. It was sardines with Worcestershire sauce & white noodles.
–Every day she cooked or taught someone how to cook – from morning ’til night, in campus & at home & every time that she did, I felt how much she enjoyed it.
–She was a creative person & it was through food that she expressed herself & her art.
–It was always fun to hang out with her.
–She gracefully carried her worries in life.
–She loved entertaining guests, cooking for them; and organizing family events.
–She expressed abundance completely & loved bringing people together.
–She cared about the students & teachers in the campus & mindfully prepared the weekly menu at the canteen. It was always exciting & different every week.
–In my photo as a baby, she was holding me proudly like Rafiki was to Simba.
–She organized a surprise birthday for me when I was a kid. I was probably 4 or 5 years old; I fell asleep that afternoon & when I woke up, there were so many guests in the living room & everybody greeted me happy birthday.
–She always encouraged me & reminded me how beautiful I was.
–When I turned 7, she made me a classy, tall birthday cake & cooked for me & all of my classmates. I felt so lucky to grow up with her on my side.
–One night, a store near our shared apartment caught fire so we hurriedly saved some clothes & went to the campus for safety where she looked after me.
–When I needed someone & felt hated by everyone else, I knew I could go to her & that she was not going to judge me at all. She would rub my back to comfort me & gave me water when I cried.
–She loved plants & even placed some giant Palmera inside the apartment. So, when my husband & I bought our own house, I also filled it with plants & decorated it as soon as we moved in.
–When she was tired, she would simply rest & lie on her bed.
–When she grew older, she didn’t like to spend too much time outdoors anymore, but she still smiled so beautifully.
–I gladly went with her on her doctors’ appointments but was worried & didn’t like that she was getting sick so often at some point.
–She taught me unconditional love & it was because of her that I learned how to forgive.
–She was my first life mentor & taught me so much through positive modeling.
I always felt that she truly loved me & accepted me with all of her heart. She gave me so many beautiful memories & in the end, she taught me a valuable lesson. I felt so guilty & regretful that I didn’t find time to always visit her or call her in the past 5 years, but I know she has already forgiven me for this.
When I heard that she passed, I couldn’t easily accept it, so I wrote her a letter every day for about 14 days. She’s been visiting me often in my dreams lately & I feel that she just wants to comfort me & knows how much I miss her.
Cheers to a life well lived, Ninang Erly! I’ll keep you alive in my heart every day.
xoxo,
Anne