Papa And Mama

[1] Papa

Goodbye, Pope John Paul II, time to rest in peace. You’ve certainly earned it.

I must admit that for several months leading to his death, I was a little peeved at him. Here he was suffering from a debilitating disease, reducing him to shuffling and shaking uncontrollably in public, and yet he refused to retire and yield to a successor. Why doesn’t he just let go of his office? I wondered several times. Is it pride that makes him hang on even though he cannot muster more than a grunt in his last Easter appearance?

Only when he died did I remember that the Papacy isn’t a beauty contest. It’s not just for a year only; it’s a lifelong responsibility. And you don’t have a first runner up who can take over in case the current Miss Universe cannot fulfill her duties. The good Pope did his best to carry on his duties to the very end.

Yeah, I don’t agree with him in all things. But the way he lived his life… well, I respect and admire him for that.

[2] Mama

Tomorrow morning my mom and my aunt are flying off to Bohol. My aunt had her cataracts removed while she was here; now that she can see better, she wants to go back home. My mom decided to accompany her sister there for two weeks.

One the one hand I’m glad she’ll be out of the house. For one thing, I find it easier to bring friends over while she’s away. I don’t know why, but I have this need to “hide” my friends from my mom so that she can’t get a lock on the kind of people they are. Mind you, not all my friends are gay although most of them are in theater, so they can be quite uh, unrestrained, even the girls. But that’s not really it; the few times I had friends over, they never really embarrassed my in front of my parents. Maybe I just have this weird need to keep my different “worlds” apart from one another.

But on the other hand I’ll be very happy when the two weeks are over and Mommy’s back home. Hers is a comforting presence I’d miss when she’s away. I can’t help but worry when she’s too far for me to come to her aid.

Then again, I can always use the next two weeks as practice for when she eventually joins my dad.

Oh gosh, the last time I talked about my dad eventually leaving us permanently, he ended up dead in less than a year. Hey, You up there! Walang ganyanan naman, okey?