Elle Marie's version of her Lola Telly!

Re-posted from my Facebook entry today...

Elle Marie: you know what Mama? Lola Telly is alive again!!!

Mama: Really?

Elle Marie: Yes! I drew her. She has a lipstick (the red over the black lips is supposed to be the lipstick) and a flower! She is beautiful!

Mama: Wow! Lola Telly will love this!

Elle Marie: I will show this to her in heaven...

Mama: But not now, ok?

Elle Marie: Mama, I love Lola Telly...

To my everdearest Ninang Telly...

An open letter to my dear Ninang Telly who passed away last January 29, 2010 after a short battle with sarcoma cancer. She will never be forgotten...

Dearest Ninang Telly,

It has been more than one week but the memory of our last night together kept on coming back to me. You kept on saying “thank you” to me the moment you saw me. And when you noticed that I was trembling because of the sound of the monitor every time your oxygen level reaches the threshold, you comforted me saying “Ella, remember what the doctor said? Believe the patient not the numbers. You can still talk to me right?”. Imagine, you were having difficulty breathing but still you were thinking about me. How selfless and how loving you are…

I said it before and I will always remind you that there is no need for you to say “thank you” to me. The little things that I did for you were incomparable to what you have done to me, my family and friends. Right from the very start, you have been my inspiration and source of confidence in La Salle. I will never forget how you accepted me without a blink as masteral thesis advisee after my original thesis adviser dumped me with only a last minute notice. And for the record, I don’t think there will ever be a masteral student in La Salle who can proudly say that their thesis adviser was present during their thesis proposal defense! Only I can say that my thesis adviser was there for me.

You were more than a colleague to me; an undergraduate macroeconomic teacher; a masteral thesis adviser; a boss for your researches and dissertation; a grandmother to my daughters; and a wedding ninang. You were a very good friend who was there for me to celebrate with me, to fall in love with me, and to help me stand up after every failure.

Ninang Telly, I said it before and I will always remind you that “Mahal na mahal ko po kayo”. And, if there were five people I would want to meet in heaven, kayo po yong isang yon. With your positive outlook in life, bubbly character and contagious laughter, I know that the angels in heaven are now rejoicing with you there.

Love

Ella