Day 26 - Last Day in Cabanatuan City

Its my last day in CC. I looked forward to this day the entire week. Tomorrow, I go to Manila to catch my flight to Boracay for one full week of R&R.

I went into mom's room this morning to give her a couple of those large tupperware storage bins. I encouraged her to use them to store all of the shoes, clothes, and "stuff" that she's accumulated over the years. When I mentioned the word "shoes" to her, she perked up.

"You want me to put the shoes in that bin?"

"Yes, take them out of the boxes and throw out the boxes. I think that they are getting moldy."

"But its almost Christmas...!"

This took me aback. Then I probed some more. "Do you give the clothes and shoes away to people at Christmas?"

"Of course!"

I recalled from various stories from my aunts that mom liked to give away clothes and shoes to random strangers in the market. The fortunate recipients would have absolutely no clue who mom was. They didn't know each other. Some gift recipients would bring the items to the family bookstore and give them to my aunt. They knew that mom was not "all together" and returned her property to the family.

Instead of discouraging her from giving away her stuff, I just let it go. If she derives some strange pleasure or gratification from giving away brand new shirts, shoes, and bags to the less fortunate in the market, then so be it. I did encourage her to share, though, with our family and with the help. Not quite sure if she processed that message as she started talking going into some weird dialogue about George Hamilton!

I asked mom if she had her birth certificate. I found out that I qualified for dual-citizenship and needed to provide mom and dad's birth certificates to the Philippine Embassy in DC. She seemed pleased that I considered dual-citizenship. She told me that she could bring me to Manila on Monday and that we could go to the immigration office together to process the forms.

I reminded mom that I would leave tomorrow for Borocay and that I wouldn't be here on Monday. I would be in Boracay all next week and then leave directly for the US on September 1st. This seemed to hit her like a ton of bricks. I've mentioned this to her repeatedly over the past week, but it wasn't until now that she realized that the time had come for me to leave.

"When are you coming back to Cabanatuan?"

I sensed that she expected me to come back to CC before leaving for the US.

"I'm not... I'm flying on September 1 directly from Boracay to Manila to the US... Is this ok with you?"

"I just want to check on you to make sure that you're ok... who are you going with? Are you going with friends?"

I mentioned Uli, the German kite boarding instructor on Boracay and played it off as if we were long-time friends just to give her reassurance. (In actuality, I would go to Boracay "cold-turkey" and play adventurer. I've never met Uli, and have only exchanged emails and text messages. I will entrust my trip to Boracay with his recommendations in exchange for Big Macs from the mainland.)

This seemed to satiate her... though barely. I could tell that she didn't want me to leave; that it was too soon. She asked me about her medications, the riseperdal, and Tess. I reassured her that everything is ok.

"I'll be back to visit. I promise."

"Ok."

I really look forward to the next time that I visit. I hope that she remembers my promise to her, and then sees that I've followed through with it. I don't want to give her false hopes. I want to give her something real that she will see for herself.

So here I am at the mall (yet again)... I need to buy a few things: lighter fluid (the windproof lighter that I purchased in MNL has gone kaput), a few liters of diet coke (trying to switch mom to something less sugary than Coke), and some liters of water (trying to get her in the habit of staying hydrated...)

My next post will be from Boracay.

Smoochies.

Ed