Mrs. Nicanor
I found myself doing nothing in this huge house until, lolo Benny asked me to come with him in his office. We sat down and in great mixture of anxiety and bland facial expression, I looked at him and was prepared to hear a very important conversation. ( Because it is very unusual for me to be called in his office for a normal conversation). He told me to look after Mrs. Nicanor who was then confined in the Medical Intensive Therapeutic Unit of the Veteran’s Medical Center. Deep inside my bones I was discouraged with the fact that I had to go home the very next day, but had to stay for another day or week to look after the poor old lady.
Mrs. Nicanor in my own recall of history used to be the person whose house was our go-to place when we are coming to the Metro for someone’s important errands in the City. I remember coming to her house always afraid to see her adopted daughter, Rona who is by the way a person with Autism. It was quite a misfortune that Mrs. Nicanor was left by her husband later in their marriage, which made her the sole preceptor of all the responsibilities in their very own home. It was difficult I must assume that she is left with all these obligations, especially when their only child happened to be somebody who fell in to an unfortunate life destitution. Though life was quite tough for her, she managed to reap the ages standing on her own, going on with life as it moves on. A lady thriving everyday to keep up with the uncertainty of life.
As I think of her, I made a realization that women are naturally courageous. They always go for the “DO” option as if there is nothing to lose. Mrs. Nicanor was offered by her siblings to live in America to begin a new life after her husband’s death, but she chose to stay, because she has to look after Rona. She chose the simple life over the big opportunity waiting for her not because she does not want to become rich, but because she knew that she had the responsibility to foster the care of her mentally challenged adopted child. She could have just left and surrendered her adopted child’s custody to a home care, and earn big money, and start a new life in the US. But then again, she opted not to. She stood by the challenges of her chosen responsibilities, and I cannot really conclude that she made a poor judgement when she chose to stay. What love can do is bigger than earning any amount money. If she decided to leave, I doubt she will find peace and happiness that I can see on her face whenever she tells story about Rona.
Though she never conceived, she is a mother whose love is unconditional and beyond imaginable. I salute her for her dedication and courage that continuously endure as long as she is still breathing. Mrs. Nicanor is not perfect, she has made some mistakes and I believe she’s not proud of them, but she managed to get up and continue to survive. She is a woman who fights as if there is nothing to lose, and I cannot really quantify how noble that kind of spirit is. We can never define a life well lived with the choices we make. What makes life meaningful is the purpose you have achieved and the life it changed.