I guess there are too many ode to dead love ones here in my blog. I wish this will not become an obituary. But I can't help but to share my piece of mind...
Fr. Mel came to visit our school today to follow up our students who signed up during the vocation campaign. He looks like Fr. Ador, one of my teachers in Theo during my college days. And so we started to chat about some people I remembered from SLU until the name of Sr. Myrna suddenly came up. Shocked was I when he said she just passed away sometime this year. A dear friend and was one of the people who was there and believed in me during my trying times.
I can't recall how did I get acquainted with her but she in the campus ministry at that time. I was passive, naive, so silent and so serious in life. She was friendly, warm, "kenkoy", so accommodating and invited me in the Mission Club. Being new in the SLU parish, she led me to join in the various activities and these helped me to become a better person. She was one of the people who saw my potentials. She did not encourage me but she gave me tasks that developed these. Above all, she understood that "thing", that was eccentric in me. She knows it and led me on how to use it properly.
There was even a time when I was so puzzled with my dreams. Instead of telling me the meaning (I know she knows) she guided me on how to process myself to discover the key to it. Now, that key is still being in used until today (and i wish to improve on it). Sometimes, i have questions in mind and she would just be telling me how to do it.
There was even a time that i cannot accept that my mother has a boyfriend (my mom's a widow) and I am angry about it. She was there willing to listen. She introduced me to a lot of people and led me to become friendlier, to be involved, and to get out of the shell of a jail that I am in.
When it was already time for her to leave because she will become a provincial directress, i wrote her a letter of thanks and she replied "...Sally, do you know that you can write clearly well? Keep on..." That line is one of the reasons why I practice to write even when busy. That line is popping up in my mind every time I am thinking if I am going to write or not. And above all, that line always reminds me of her.
Sometime this year, I dreamed of her. That dream was so uneventful. It reminded me of her and I started thinking how is she. Because of being busy, I did not dwell much on it what did it mean. It was only today that I now know why: she visited me that night.
My last memory of her was during her despedida. That was the first time I saw her sad. I understood what was in her mind: she will miss the parish. I wondered why she was that sad. All I know was that it is not yet the end. There are still ways of getting in touch: email and texts. I didn't know that it will be the last time that we will be seeing each other.
Months and years passed by...I heard the news that she was going through breast cancer. Of course prayers were offered. Then I learned that she was doing well and fine. Then I was shocked when I heard of her passing away. They never told me she was going through stage 4 of breast cancer. I didn't intended to, but I suddenly said: "why didn't my friends informed me?" Father Mel explained that in her community, death is something that is not being spread around. Only those who are in the inner circle of the society will know it.
(Sigh)...Sr Myrna will be greatly missed but I know she is now in peace in heaven.
