Eleventh Month

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Happy New Month read-friends! Fifty-four more days to go before Christmas. Are your presents and outfits ready?

November one it is. Here in this side of the country is not used to holding Halloween parties or trick or treat rather we live by the tradition of cleaning our dead loved one's tombs and preparing foods that are considered timely for the day.

For some, they would prepare biko and pansit. They would bring a plate of biko and pansit and leave it on the tomb of their dead loved ones as their share.

For this year's november one recipe, we have puto and sikwate. My mother wanted to cook biko but my father opted for puto. Less sugar, more healthy!

Before when my grandma can endure long walks, we would go and visit her daughter, my aunt who died of breast cancer. She was forty years old when she died. She had no kid and no boyfriend.

She spent all her life working. Shortly after highschool, she went to Manila and worked at SO-EN. My uncles would stay in her apartment before when they were still looking for job. Years passed by, my aunt enjoyed working there. She would just come home during Christmas. She was not the crazy rich aunt but she always come home with presents for everyone.

I remember she would spoil us with clothes and school supplies back then. We would have plenty of pencils that sometimes we give off to our classmates. Christmas is the happiest too when she was still with us because she sponsors almost all of the food in the table. She was a lover of anything sweet and the fruits also. Not only that, on top of her presents under the Christmas tree, she would also throw coins for us, the kids.

My aunt is one great generous woman but she is straight-forward too. She tells whatever it is in her head and she wouldn't mind if it can hurt her recipient. My father is younger than her and he wasn't exempted at my aunt's tongue when he told everyone that he is getting married. My aunt then asked my father if he is already financially capable in a rude way.

After years of working, she learned that she is sick. Breast cancer stage four. My grandma and my uncles did their best for her to be cured but every possible solution is futile. She had undergone chemo-therapy but in the end doctor advised her to just come home and spend time with family. My aunt come home here in the province, sick and hopeless. My grandma being the denial and hopeful mom took her to a faith healer in a nearby town. They stayed in a kind of church where every other sick people also stayed. My aunt later tried to stay in a room. She was promised by the faith healer that if she would buy a certain necklace , she will be healed. The necklace costs one-hundred thousand but my aunt died not receiving it. Until now, the necklace wasn't given so as the money.

Most of the money that my aunt saved from years of working disappeared in vain. Parts of it were given to the faith healer who turned out to be a fake healer. My aunt also said that her friends owe her some money but only one friend visited her on her wake and brought some money. The rest of her money was left to her mom.

My aunt died of cancer and her money didn't do anything for her. I remember I was still a kid back then. She wanted me to drink the milk that she was drinking. She can't drink all so she wanted me to finish drinking it. I don't know what is the name of that milk but I remember that no matter how much sugar and milo my mother would put on it. It will still tastes bitter.

My mother said too that when they were at the hospital, my aunt would want them to use the electric fan even when the aircon was on. She would cry in agony and they couldn't do anything except to massage her back and do whatever she wanted.

For years, we have been visiting her. When it is her death anniversary, all of the family members were present. My grandma won't visit my grandpa's tomb because she would say that cleaning and lighting a candle in my aunt's tomb is already enough because my grandpa's soul will soon visit my aunt's tomb and they will be together.

But now, grandma have no plans of visiting neither her daughter or husband's tomb. I think she would just light a candle at her altar and say her prayers.

Thanks for reading!

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