Our Dear M

It is that time of year. The whole month has been very celebratory as three of us who squat in the warehouse are all Leos. A party the first week, a show opening the second week, a trip to somewhere drivable the third week. The BOOM, right before my birthday, heart break!!!

Our girl M who has been with us for the last four years, trained to invisible domesticity and treated as family, by T, R, and I needed to go home to Probinsiya to tend to father who is on deathbed. Fine, an emergency is an emergency. Go.

But roughly three hours after she tells us, she drops the bomb -- she wasn't coming back. Wow, that pulled the rug. Her father has assigned her to take care of her mother and stay in Probinsya. Personally, I think it's a little unfair as the reason they gave her is because she is the only single one left. Hello! She is the only single one left because she is the Smartest. And she can go really far with us, and substantially help her family the more she learns and earns with us.

Haaay naku.

We are not only losing our girl. We are losing our labandera, (primary) mother of the dog, reason we go to church, and friend.
My measure of a good friend is someone you can spend lots of time with and you are both fine ignoring each other. M ignored us for the most part but really took care of our little boy dog and our home.

The day she left was incredibly painful. We were all crying. It was traumatic. Her father being sick. The loss of a friend. The loss of all those years of training that we put in. Sort of felt like the last day of high school when you know you will never see each other again. At 6 am, the day before my birthday, I stood in our living and told her, 'ma-mimiss ka namin, huwag kang mahiya o matakot na bumalik', and CRIED. Then she said, 'Mam, Happy Birthday po'. Then she SOBBED.

More than the loss, its the suddenness of it.

So now the search for a new M begins.

I'll let you know if she comes back.

Meanwhile, my birthday passed. And now I have to do laundry and feed the Tiger.






Image: Tower, 2010, part of the Bare Tactics show at Blanc, Peninsula Hotel, by me