THE TWO have never met. Surely, their life-orbits never crossed and, slimmer still, the probability that they have known each other must have been negative a hundred zeros point one.
But they were my friends, and therein lies the rub. They might be total strangers to each other, but they now hold special spaces in both my heart and the heavenly house up there.
It could be that these heavenly spaces where they now live are nearby rooms just across the hall where all our lost relatives whom we miss and love also dwell.
That’s surely a wild and gladdening scenario to think about.
Imagine, all my departed friends and family members, bumping into each other down the hall, exchanging pleasantries and dropping your name once in a while … so you knew that guy?
Seriously, even though our days and memories of them may still be unceremoniously lined with sadness and regret, the image of them mingling with our own loved ones and happy at last somehow makes our grief and feelings of loss less heavy to bear.
If not for anything else, I, for one, would take any wild imagining I can hold on to just to ease up on both their loss.
In the early 2000s, Jackie was my kumpare’s eldest and also my neighbor. Cute and bubbly as a child, she was just like any other neighborhood rugrat running about.
Alas, they all grow up so quickly; the next moment I got to talk to her, she had already moved out of her dad’s house to be independent, and at one time only, we dropped her off at her place of work in Matina—a “Cats in the Cradle” moment, if you will.
Bobby and I, on the other hand, shared common heartstrings. I first saw him on stage in the early days of Taboan, in Matina Town Square, whipping out serious heavy metal licks to the delight of a younger crowd.
For a few years, their band (of brothers, for real) had gone on tour outside the country, and the next thing I knew, he was back and a little older now…playing lead guitar for a band in the same venue where we also played.
Then, this is the common thread that put these two friends together. Only days apart, I received news that they had suddenly passed on.
Truly, dark announcements come without fanfare. You just get word and seconds after, your overwhelming disbelief is swept away and instantly replaced by a deep and lingering sense of permanent loss.
No use in further trying to cultivate a fancy that one wished you had spent more time with any of them. That’s the usual reaction when someone we know dies.
We’ll never get enough time though; we only have to try to make each moment count. And bid them our fondest Godspeed and wave them goodbye. To you both, glad to have shared a moment, and here’s to eternal rest after your journey.
