I often called it
“maltiempo” or bad time/timing, as far as I can interpret. Unfortunately, my cousin, Lyja, is stricken
with this. I attribute it primarily to
her being a “menopause baby” with her mother and father already advanced in
years when she came into being. When she
was born, her youngest sibling, at that point, was already in his
mid-teens.
It was no wonder,
therefore, that she was always out of the loop with what were happening in
their household. She even ate her meals
separate from her siblings because while everybody else was rushing to finish,
she was meticulously picking on her food for hours. She was constantly followed around by her
“yaya” Pilang, an old maid who was prone to expressing herself in Visayan terms
such as “pisting yawa”, “ ano ba ining bata na ini” and others that I can’t now
quite recall. Yaya Pilang was her
companion at all times and she always needed to chase after my cousin come meal
times.
Because I was an
only girl with three brothers, Lyja was naturally drawn to my company. She would come to our house for dinner
bringing her own food in a bowl. That
was because my three brothers would take turns taunting her and pushing her out
of the door. No amount of teasing made her
leave because she felt she had a right to be with us. The attraction may be that we were a younger
household. And, I guess, her right in
the family had been installed by Mama, herself, who often declared that she
nursed Lyja with her own breast milk when the latter was an infant. You see, my aunt became ill after giving
birth to her and was unable to take care of Lyja. My uncle felt compelled to give the baby to
another family but my strong-willed mother put her foot down and argued that
she can nurse my cousin instead. Of
course, it was quite fortunate that Mama was herself in her late pregnancy with
my brother, Dick. As Mama related,
there came a time when she was nursing two babies at the same time.
Being of the same
age, Dick and Lyja started school together.
Probably because my aunt had been weak through her pregnancy, Lyja was
sickly too. That was the reason she had
to stop for one year and I caught up with her in school. I think, having another little girl to play
with was just too pleasant for her.
Being the more senior child, she always had her way with me. Not to mention, of course, the fact that Mama
always told me to accede to whatever Lyja wanted since she was often ill. Mama regretted this instruction when I came
home one day with my beautiful long tresses (that Mama took great care to curl
and style) cut with a “patilya” or sideburns at the side! Horrible!
You see, my cousin had and still has one great passion and that is
cutting hair! She thinks she can be one
great hair stylist!
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| Cousins |
At any rate, Lyja
always had them all fooled. She looked
frail and weak but deep inside was one naughty, fighting, little girl. My brother, Dick, must be able to attest to
that because she pinched him every time she didn’t get her way. She also picked fights in school and brought
him to her enemies so he could box them.
Of course, by the time we were on the same grade, I was the one doing
all her boxing for her!
Hahahahahahah….. those were fun
times because the fights somehow satisfied the war craving in me!
Looking saintly with a little devil peeking
out, Lyja got into plenty of exploits with me as accomplice. One really funny episode in our student life
was when we were penalized by being made to commute from school on our own for
an entire month. We were then studying in
a Chinese school in the Chinatown district.
The reason for the penalty was that we got too busy watching a
volleyball game that we totally forgot about the family driver waiting for us
just outside the school grounds. We got
home quite late and both got an earful of tongue-lashing! True to our mischievous nature, the penalty
became one big adventure. We were quite
ignorant on how to commute home so we opted to walk the long, long way
home. Along the various routes we
unraveled, we discovered the intricate ins and outs of Sta. Cruz and
Quiapo. The best find we prided in was
Little Quiapo, a nondescript restaurant along Rizal Avenue that served a
wonderful concoction of halo-halo.
Unknown to our elders, this was where our transportation money was going
to. It was heaven especially for Lyja
because she was always forbidden to drink anything cold at home. Talk of over protection. I’d say this was one of the best growing up
experience both of us ever had. Not only
did we get to see the chaos of city life, it was also the time we discovered we
could resell our used books! There, we
found our extra income!
Our teen years
were unfortunately quite disparate. Mama
was liberal about allowing me to camps, soirees and seminars. Lyja, on the other hand, had to stay close
to home as demanded by her older brothers.
They were very strict with her and life must have been very
boring. She took the strictures with
calm acceptance and it was only now and then that a rebellious tendency would
show. It helped that Mama was open-minded about conspiring with us.
All Lyja had to do was ask permission to spend the night with us and off
we went to whatever party with our friends and “barkada”. It was their routine, too, that one of her
brothers would call late at night to check on her. They were no match to Mama, who felt no
remorse in lying to them by saying that we were asleep as we got tired
chatting! Dear Mama!
I could talk on
and on about our escapades but time does not allow it. Suffice it to say that up to our senior
years, Lyja and I are still happily together.
She claims that she never married because she was so intimidated by
having to raise a family as she watched me cope with it through the past
years. This, of course, is belied by the
fact that she helped me raise my children especially the two youngest
ones. I am grateful that her practicality
in life and its options has rubbed off on them.
More grateful am I for how her cool disposition always tempered my fiery
take on our day to day experiences.
Lyja is much older
now. The devil in her is still hiding
and peeking out now and then. She tells
me, “ Don’t be angry. Make others
angry!” She falls asleep in front of the
television and can snore through any program.
Put off the television and she would wake up. She claims the noise from the boob tube
lulls her to sleep. I snicker over this
because I know for a fact that so many other things lull her to sleep. She falls asleep while reading the
newspaper. Surprisingly, you would find
her with her hands still holding the newspaper up. She also falls asleep while worshipping on
her feet with her hands raised up high.
The only time you will realize that she is asleep is when she soft
pedals backward! Mean old me, I snicker
over these occasions too! My bad,
really!
Aging she may be
but she never fails to offer her services when she feels it is needed. If one member of the family falls sick, she
is immediately by their side; offering to watch over and care for them. In our household, she comes up with all kinds of foul-smelling concoctions that surprisingly work wonders on whatever ailments we may have. She comes up with all kinds of remedies for
illnesses and because she occasionally engages in network marketing of food
supplement, some relatives misinterpret it as financial motive. Like
me, they can be quite bad!
What I truly
appreciate about my cousin is her capacity to love without conditions. I love that she cannot seem to find fault with
my blatant eccentricities; that she laughs over the cranky comments I make when
I get pissed. She wonderfully thinks I
am superwoman and drives me to be such because she thinks so! I preciously value her presence in my life
because she is one person who can see through all of my disguises and still love me.
Today is her day
so I thought to share a little glimpse to the remarkable personality of this wispy and dear cousin of mine.
Happy birthday,
Laly. Thank you for sharing your life and love with us. We truly love you!
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