My memories of my brother whose nickname was “Boy” among families and relatives in our younger years. Out of 5 children, he is the middle child and I am the eldest. We lived in several different cities around the Philippines. Our parents had a business while we were growing up. Boy was stubborn and very malikut. He loved to play all the time especially outside and our katulong would always call for him but he was nowhere to be found. At age 8, while sneaking away from our strict mom, he climbed down from an upper-story window. If he fell he would have been seriously hurt, but Boy had no fear. You would often see him standing on top of anything that he could climb upon, such as a damaged or unconstructed hollow brick walls. He would balance himself on top pretending to be a king with a sword, but instead of a stick or pipe, he somehow found an actual Machete! He was truly adventurous.
In his teens, Boy would pick up our sister Berna from work every night and in the morning at 5 am he delivered newspapers. This was his first part time job. Sometimes on Friday or Saturday nights, Berna and I would hang out with our friends sometimes to discos or night clubs, our strict mom would not let us go so we would sneak out and my brother would tag along. Even though he was younger than us we felt safe with him being with us. My brother and I also lived in New York together with our dad to help him manage our family store in Manhattan.
In our mid years in Houston, Boy wanted us to start referring to him as Bernie or Bernard. After the military, he was more of a thinker than a talker and was very reserved. He grew mature and smart, and preferred thought-provoking topics of conversation to jokes and gossip. He called me at work often during those times and we would both chat about our daily life and also the memories of our childhood.
Living in a big city and with the busyness of daily life, it was hard for all five of us to see each other, but in our hearts we always knew that we were all alive and doing well. This is why when our parents and our sister Berna passed, a big hole was left in our hearts. With the recent passing of our brother Bernie before his time, that hole got much larger. I miss them all and am reminded once again that life is short, and to cherish the memories of when we were all together.
Love Ate Edith
