Reading the Signs
I do not know if this is common to all, or a gift which I have, or just plain and simple circumstance at work, but I have this ability of some sort of reading the signs, which herald something most likely of something wrong which can happen. It happened several times to me in my short existence here on earth. Premonition maybe, I do not know…
My grandpa was rushed to the hospital last Wednesday. But the night before, while on the way home from badminton with my young cousins who lives nearby but rarely visits the house, we were talking about my lolo, telling me how strong he is still despite his age, and talking about the other siblings of his who have passed on, including their own grandma, who is my grandpa’s sister. My lolo is the last surviving son of seven siblings. During that conversation while walking towards our house, I had this eerie if not awkward feeling, short of being blank. It was like… “Why the hell are we talking about this?” Certain emotions of mine were stirred a bit that night, and it was kinda strange.
The next day, my grandpa was generally weak during the morning, apparently the day before, he overdosed on laxatives, which according to him, he did quite often in the past, but never did he experience such weakness and shortness of breathe. Since I had nothing to do, I thought of going out that day to the mall or something, but something held me back, I decided not to leave the house and just stay there and let boredom kill me instead. However during lunch time, my grandpa couldn’t eat, he had hard time breathing and lay on his bed coughing. I talked to him and assessed him physically. He was burning hot and a bit reddish. I decided to take him to the hospital for emergency treatment. So me, our driver, my lola, and manang Julie, our house help, rushed to Manila Medical where he can have medical attention. A few hours after he was admitted, I had to go home to get some clothes and stuff for my overnight stay at the hospital.
Our rather large altar most of the time have three candles burning at the same time. I’ve noticed one candle went out, despite the fact that it did not get wet, nor could have been blown by the wind because the candles are in glass lamps. I thought probably that it is the particular brand of that candle (we got it from the home decorations section of SM, while most of our candles are ‘Liwanag’ brand). So I re-lit the candle, said a prayer or two while offering some incense sticks.
During that night, we had such a hard time, because of my grandpa’s weakness, his arthritic knees and his weight. He wanted to urinate all the time, but cannot, so we had to assist him all night long, to and fro the bathroom, literally carrying him back and from the bed to the toilet. I was so exhausted the whole night.
When I returned home that morning to rest, I found the candle which I relit the previous night, unconsumed. Instead, the glass cup which held it was broken. Nobody touched it because it was still in the glass lamp, therefore, it could have burst due to the heat of the flame. In our household, we have this believe that any glass or ceramic ware which breaks accidentally averts evil. It may be weird, if not cinematic, but I find that such belief a bit true, since glasses or plates usually break accidentally not only during birthdays and special occasions, but during times when a member of the family flies in or out of the country or locally.
After resting my weary body for a few hours, I had to return to the hospital for the night duty again. Upon return, I saw these two doctors doing some medical stuff and a catheter was inserted into my grandpa to extract and collect the urine. At that night, they collected about 2.5 liters of urine which cannot pass through his body naturally. I had a hard time looking at my grandfather at that state. I’m not much of a ‘hospital’ person you see.
Then my tita cely called by phone my grandma… they talked for a very long time, and in my eavesdropping, since it was such a small room, I’ve heard them talking about Tita Cely or my other Tita dreaming of our Lola Asyang, their mother, and another sister of my lolo who is already in the life beyond. As of what I overheard, they concluded that probably Lola Asyang was telling them that something happened, which, according to my Tita, Lola Asyang usually does during certain events. Since we never told anybody in the extended family that my lolo was in the hospital, she could not have known.
Then my lola told me afterwards that if I hadn’t insisted on bringing him to the hospital, his overflowing bladder would have burst, thus would result in deeper sorrow for us. I cried outside the room because of the mixed feeling of sadness and relief.
This is how I see it…
Magical Reality we call it in the literati world. Reminds me of several story plots of the likes of Nick Joaquin and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I am not a religious person in the Catholic sense, since my personal belief system is universal, and I am more spiritual, rather than religious. I belief in karma, dharma, fate, certain unseen beings, the ancestors and divine intervention, and somehow, this made event attests that our world is not a single plane, but an intricate woven fabric of time, space, matter and spirit.
Now, my grandpa is doing fine, he’d probably go under the knife within the week to scrape of his swollen prostate gland, which is the main cause of his current sickness.
Thank God and the ancestors…
My grandpa was rushed to the hospital last Wednesday. But the night before, while on the way home from badminton with my young cousins who lives nearby but rarely visits the house, we were talking about my lolo, telling me how strong he is still despite his age, and talking about the other siblings of his who have passed on, including their own grandma, who is my grandpa’s sister. My lolo is the last surviving son of seven siblings. During that conversation while walking towards our house, I had this eerie if not awkward feeling, short of being blank. It was like… “Why the hell are we talking about this?” Certain emotions of mine were stirred a bit that night, and it was kinda strange.
The next day, my grandpa was generally weak during the morning, apparently the day before, he overdosed on laxatives, which according to him, he did quite often in the past, but never did he experience such weakness and shortness of breathe. Since I had nothing to do, I thought of going out that day to the mall or something, but something held me back, I decided not to leave the house and just stay there and let boredom kill me instead. However during lunch time, my grandpa couldn’t eat, he had hard time breathing and lay on his bed coughing. I talked to him and assessed him physically. He was burning hot and a bit reddish. I decided to take him to the hospital for emergency treatment. So me, our driver, my lola, and manang Julie, our house help, rushed to Manila Medical where he can have medical attention. A few hours after he was admitted, I had to go home to get some clothes and stuff for my overnight stay at the hospital.
Our rather large altar most of the time have three candles burning at the same time. I’ve noticed one candle went out, despite the fact that it did not get wet, nor could have been blown by the wind because the candles are in glass lamps. I thought probably that it is the particular brand of that candle (we got it from the home decorations section of SM, while most of our candles are ‘Liwanag’ brand). So I re-lit the candle, said a prayer or two while offering some incense sticks.
During that night, we had such a hard time, because of my grandpa’s weakness, his arthritic knees and his weight. He wanted to urinate all the time, but cannot, so we had to assist him all night long, to and fro the bathroom, literally carrying him back and from the bed to the toilet. I was so exhausted the whole night.
When I returned home that morning to rest, I found the candle which I relit the previous night, unconsumed. Instead, the glass cup which held it was broken. Nobody touched it because it was still in the glass lamp, therefore, it could have burst due to the heat of the flame. In our household, we have this believe that any glass or ceramic ware which breaks accidentally averts evil. It may be weird, if not cinematic, but I find that such belief a bit true, since glasses or plates usually break accidentally not only during birthdays and special occasions, but during times when a member of the family flies in or out of the country or locally.
After resting my weary body for a few hours, I had to return to the hospital for the night duty again. Upon return, I saw these two doctors doing some medical stuff and a catheter was inserted into my grandpa to extract and collect the urine. At that night, they collected about 2.5 liters of urine which cannot pass through his body naturally. I had a hard time looking at my grandfather at that state. I’m not much of a ‘hospital’ person you see.
Then my tita cely called by phone my grandma… they talked for a very long time, and in my eavesdropping, since it was such a small room, I’ve heard them talking about Tita Cely or my other Tita dreaming of our Lola Asyang, their mother, and another sister of my lolo who is already in the life beyond. As of what I overheard, they concluded that probably Lola Asyang was telling them that something happened, which, according to my Tita, Lola Asyang usually does during certain events. Since we never told anybody in the extended family that my lolo was in the hospital, she could not have known.
Then my lola told me afterwards that if I hadn’t insisted on bringing him to the hospital, his overflowing bladder would have burst, thus would result in deeper sorrow for us. I cried outside the room because of the mixed feeling of sadness and relief.
This is how I see it…
Magical Reality we call it in the literati world. Reminds me of several story plots of the likes of Nick Joaquin and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I am not a religious person in the Catholic sense, since my personal belief system is universal, and I am more spiritual, rather than religious. I belief in karma, dharma, fate, certain unseen beings, the ancestors and divine intervention, and somehow, this made event attests that our world is not a single plane, but an intricate woven fabric of time, space, matter and spirit.
Now, my grandpa is doing fine, he’d probably go under the knife within the week to scrape of his swollen prostate gland, which is the main cause of his current sickness.
Thank God and the ancestors…
posted by ohme at 6:32 AM
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