Yesterday, Macrine's two younger sisters from the Bay Area ( Alameda and Palo Alto), Jean and Charro along with Merlet Perlas, visited her with a big surprise. Although Macrine's birthday is still at the end of this month(the 26th), the three young ladies brought us some Pinoy goodies ( Dungeness crab in Ginger Sauce, Chicken Adobo sa Gata, Pancit, Dinuguan and Arroz Valenciana with Halo-Halo for dessert). The goodies were yum, yum and delicious.
Aside from the Pinoy goodies, Macrine was so surprised to receive the latest model of the Apple i-Pod 16 GB. The three sisters immediately called their two other sisters in the Philippines ( Fe and Sister Guia). Macrine was so happy that after the three left, she started to embrace me and engaged me to dance.
The gift was signed as follows:
To Our Dearest Manang: Happy Birthday! Love, Charro, Jean, Fepot, Sr Guia, Lanie, Merlit and the Kids.
The above event in our daily lives here in the US, reminds me that the tempo of life here in the US is so much more hectic compared to the life in the Philippines. Every body is busy earning a buck. Therefore, I really do not expect relatives and friends to visit us in our old age in person as often as every month. However an occasional phone call, FaceBook message or e-mail is always welcome.
With regards to our four children, all of them have busy lives and three of them have families of their own. A Once or twice a year Family Get Together (Thanksgiving and Christmas) is all that we expect from them.
With my wife suffering from Parkinson Disease, her feeling of isolation and depression (side effects of her medications) has been overwhelming sometimes. I wished our children and other relatives will give me a call to give me strength to do my duty as the primary caregiver. This occasional outburst of isolation and not being remembered by friends and relatives is a source unhappiness in our household. If you are reading this, a call to Macrine or an e-mail once in a while will certainly help her in coping up with Parkinson's Disease and other problems of aging.
We do appreciate, the weekly calls from our oldest daughter who lives about a 2hr drive from us. We appreciate her just saying Hello to her Mom every Sunday, even for just a few minutes in spite of her busy schedule supporting herself as a divorcee and sending two offspring to college.
Our youngest daughter who lives about 30 minutes visits or at least call us at least once a month in spite of her busy schedule also as a State Executive and raising alone an 11 year old precocious and talented daughter.
Our oldest son who has a family of his own and also busy with his profession as a Prosecuting Attorney, has always attended family reunions at least once a year even though we do not get telephone calls from him. Once in a while his wife will send pictures of activities of our grand children in school and other extracurricular activities.
Finally, our million thanks to our unmarried youngest son who lives with us. He helps me in taking care of her mother and drives us to our social activities especially at night since my eyes are no longer perfect driving at night. During the day, I do all the driving doing errands ( groceries, bank, church, beauty shoppe etc.. ) and to the Casinos. Once in a while my son helps me in cooking our dinner. Of course he is in charge with of all the yard work and maintenance of the swimming pool and odds and ends jobs in maintaining a big and old house. We have two cleaning ladies come to the house twice a month, compliments of our children. Again, thank you 4D's for this gift.
Again, Macrine and I extend our thanks to all our thoughtful relatives and especially to the surprise 79th Birthday gift above. It is one gift Macrine will never forget and will always treasure.
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