Day 9 Chemo 1. Fri. 07/28/2017 4:50PM
It's Mama Leticia Noel's birthday today. I was really able to wake up early at 5:00AM. Had my morning meditation right away. Took a bath. Woke up Ate Sinead, my partner with the birthday surprise for Mama Letty.
The day of course would never be complete without having my first juice in the morning based on “The Plant Programme” of Jane Plant. Being a good patient I made my “Watermelon Juice” with “Organic Honey” on it and gulped 2 1/2 glasses of it. It’s quite amazing how I’ve been doing it. Yet, come to think, who else is going to drink what I am making anyway. So I'd rather drink them all ‘coz I might not be able to have breakfast anymore. Besides, it is one of the best source of Lycopene which is responsible for the beautiful red color of watermelon pulp at the same time a powerful antioxidant, known to protect cardiovascular system from free radical damage, known to protect your skin from UV damage that can lead to photo aging, wrinkles and skin cancer and also known to protect from different kinds of cancers. Cheers to those who have what I have and let’s drink it up with watermelon juice.
It was a good decision to guzzle down a large volume of the watermelon juice, because I was the only one who was not hungry while we were looking for a flower shop with the florist on duty in the early morning.
Thank God we found one at Banilad, which was frankly quite far already from home. Nevertheless, It was worth the trip and effort since the bunch of flowers we found was really beautiful indeed.
Jerome called while we were at the flower shop giving us additional instructions for the message he wanted us to convey on the card of the flowers. I was teary-eyed reading the message as if it was for me and as if it was my birthday. Simple as it may seemed to be yet so profound in meaning. It was the lyrics of the song M-O-T-H-E-R which was written by Theodore Morse and Howard Johnson. His dad when he was little used to sing the song to his Mom every now and then of which the memories lingered long enough in his mind to make it his own for his Mom’s birthday. The note came this way:
Dearest Mama Letty, Happy Birthday.
May this simple note suffice to say how much I love you
M is for the Million things she gave me.
O means only that she’s growing old.
T is for the tears she shed to save me.
H is for her heart of purest gold.
E is for her eyes with love-light shining.
R means right and right she’ll always be.
Put them all together they spell Mother,
A word that means the world to me.
Love,
Jerome
I was so touched when I was reading the message. I couldn’t help but feel the emotion of a mother since I myself am a mother too. How sweet it is, if my son “Zac” will make a message like that for me. I just imagined how it feels like that even at his age at 6 he could be capable of doing so. What a great feeling would that be!!! My excitement just couldn’t be contained anymore and was so pumped up to give the flowers to Mama Letty.
Right after the scampering around for flower shops we took a quick breakfast at Jollibee. This time I broke a little of my dietary plan. Carbohydrates and red meat were not supposed to be in “The Plant Programme” of Jane Plant. I guess with all the excitement building up I seemed to forget that I am still under my chemotherapy treatment. “Ahh! Don't worry my Guardian Angel, I ate a little chicken only coupled with just 1/2 rice plus 2 thin pieces of fries to test whether my taste buds were all in full functioning condition. And yup, the appetite was back full-blown hahaha.”
With filled tummies and new energy from Jollibee breakfast, we rock in rolled towards Red Ribbon Bakeshop. Birthday with just the flowers may not be enough so we got Mama Letty a cake despite knowing that she won’t be able to eat anything like it anymore. It would not be the eating that we were after of course, but the essence of having her blow a candle and make a wish on it.
Finally around 9:30 a.m. we arrived at the Noel's residence. And there she was, the birthday celebrant relaxing on a rocking chair by the terrace.
They say that youngster as always are pretty quick to run and indeed, it was the little granddaughter of Mama Letty who got to us first and opened the gate for us. Which in turned stunned my little boy who turned shy after seeing the little girl. Thus,instead of having him carry the bunch of flowers, I ended up carrying it myself and giving it to Mama Letty. We all then greeted her with birthday song.
While Mama Letty was caressing the bouquet I told her: “Mama Letty, the flowers are there to hold the beautiful note, which is the most important part despite being small.” Then I asked her if she would like me to read the message for her. With the smile she signalled me to do so.
I was still on the second line when she interrupted me and told me: “That's from Dodong Jerome, Isn’t it?.” My oh my, there are things that just cannot be denied and in my mind I uttered these words in silence to my Guardian Angel, Jerome: “She's really your mother Jer. She recognized right away that only her son Jerome could make such a beautiful message for her.” Tears flowed down on her cheeks while I was reading the message. I was so privileged to be the messenger, bringing those tears of joy and loudness like that of a marching band which broke the tranquility of the entire household. I was just so excited and full of life that I had successfully delivered the message. “Mission accomplished Jer.”
After all the drama and well wishes I still had enough time to drop my son to school, grabbed my preferred lunch from Ate Sinead, and had enough time to drive to work. It was so exhilarating for me knowing how much we had accomplished early this morning. A feeling of contentment and satisfaction. I was just so overjoyed. Grabe! ha..ha..ha.
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