I was nine.
We were in a new community. It was common for us to move from place to place for reasons I have yet to understand at that time. My father said this will be our home and we will never need to move out. Of course we believed him. And my nanay set out to find a Church where we can worship, meet new friends and be a part of a community. In a few days, she excitedly told me she has found one a few blocks from our house. That next Sunday changed our lives.
She met a woman who was probably in her early 40s. Her name was Ate Guy. Children will often come to her to ask for a hug, a kiss, a candy or a soothing word. I was a child then and I found myself smitten as well. I’d look for her every Sunday service and count the days before her next visit.
I adore her.
A year later when my sister turned one, my nanay made Ate Guy one of her godparents. I was happy because that meant more visits from her and finally, my nanay had another friend. She rarely has friends and it brought her great joy that her circle has started growing. But as life would dictate, it was also that same year when they had a fall out. The details are quite vague to me but I remember waiting for her to visit but she never came.
It’s been decades since I last saw her. My mind has been blotchy since my second c-section delivery and I have forgotten many people and their memories from the past. It can be both beautiful and dreadful. Memories of Ate Guy had been whittled until today.
An old family friend posted in social media that she has passed away. She was 67. A surge of memories began to crash in one after the other.
She was a woman who although never had a child of her own, loved every child from Church deeply. She was also our mother and we, her children. Her pure, warm and comforting love is what brings us running back in her arms.
Through the years she maintained her loving nature. We have turned into adults and some already have children of their own yet she remained the woman every kid looks for during Sunday service – the one with a bag of sweets and an even sweeter hug.
The children of the past and the present will keep you in their hearts. Until we meet you again.
Salamat, Ate Guy.
