Donny left me

Tonight I can write the saddest lines.

Write, for example, 'The night is starry and the stars are blue and shiver in the distance.

Through nights like this one I held her in my arms.

Love is so short, forgetting is so long.

Because through nights like this one I held her in my arms

my soul is not satisfied that it has lost her.

Though this be the last pain that she makes me suffer

and these the last verses that I write for her.

-- PABLO NERUDA

A month and three days ago today, my bestfriend left for Mindanao. He braved quarantine and the strict travel protocols just to come home to their island to tend his sick grandma.

Linda is his maternal grandma. Though, I haven't meet her yet, it feels like I already knew her from the stories of my bestfriend. Linda has only one daughter and so her grandkids are so dear to her. She loves them like her own.

My bestfriend, Donny not Pangilinan loves Linda so much. He would always recount the times when Linda extended her love, support and care like a mother. Donny loves to come home to Mindanao every summer vacation. He's always excited that two weeks before summer vacation, he would pack his bags and off he go. Unlike me, Donny doesn't suffer from separation anxiety.

Donny is a best friend. At some point, he has become a part of my day, my story and my everyday and my life. He shared how he love her grandma and how he would like to help them. He likes the richness of their island and he misses the friends he left there.

One day while we were swimming, he told me he will be leaving for Mindanao very soon. My heart crumbled. I knew we have agreed on this before but I wouldn't entertain the idea of him leaving because he would always say that he wouldn't want to be vaccinated. He would just come home when things get better.

But things didn't get better. Linda is sick and badly needs hospital care. Donny has a big brother but he also has another sick grandpa at home. So, Donny left for Mindanao. Unvaccinated. Fortunately, one month ago, Donny was able to board a ship to Surigao unvaccinated and not even swabbed.

I was sad when he left but I realized he was happy to be reunited with his sick and beloved grandma. They stayed with a kind aunt and would only visit the hospital for scheduled check-up. After all the treatment, the doctor prescribed medicine and treatment for Linda. She was adviced to be back by September for another check- up. After a month of being stucked in Surigao, finally tonight Donny was able to set foot on the island with Linda again.

As of this writing, Donny may be in quarantine. There is no mobile signal in their island, that's what Donny said. That means I have no one to talked to in the late evening from now on. But he promised to keep in touch when quarantine is over. Me, being a clingy bestfriend is sad tonight that I could write the saddest lines.

Donny left for Mindanao and I'm lonely

I know I shouldn't be

For there, he will be happy

I know I shouldn't be

Because in his heart he promised there will I be

But the sadness fills me

That he got a world completely far away from me

But the sadness fills me

That he got a world completely strange from me

Thanks for reading. Good morning!