Kudang-dang

Tita Chit with H cooking on my 21st birthday.

Some people call them friends, some people call them comrades, I like to call them family. No matter how feudal that sounds.

I've always had a BIG family. Nanay has always been welcoming to comrades needing a home so a lot of them come to her - and I mean a lot! It is not your usual afternoon visit. Some of them actually lived with us for some time. Leaving, if necessary, for work then coming back to us once again if they're on "vacation." Over the years I have come to love these people as family.

Now, as a kid, it was okay. I had a lot of people to talk to, to play with, but as I grew older I can't deny that it was hard. You have almost no privacy, people just pop out of nowhere (honestly) and the house is always a mess. Being poor and all, I did not have the luxury of having my own private room so every time we have visitors the house would always be too crowded for a decent sleep.

Despite all that, however, I learned to live with it, accept it and eventually embraced it. They are family after all. :)

One of these people was Tita Chit. Tita Chit was my godmother. She did not exactly buy me lots of gifts. In fact, in the 22 years that we've known each other, she has given me exactly 4 gifts. Hahaha! :D The 1st one was a teddy bear on my 1st birthday (I still have the bear), a jewellery box on my 13th birthday, a see-through underwear (oh yeah) on Christmas of 2008 and, lastly, a Looney Tunes towel on my debut.

Tita Chit was many things to many people and I know you have heard many versions of what she's like. Since I was not given a privilege to speak on her "parangal" (hehe), I decided to write what she is to me instead.

This is not a romanticized version of my outlook. I want to be as honest as possible (not entirely because as some people know, some things are considered kompart).

Tita Chit is a great cook. She's always present in family occasions and she and Nanay are always found in the kitchen cooking away. You can even say that she's a good flower arranger since every time someone dies or gets married in the family (bad combination), she and Chano always helps out in arranging the flowers. In short she always helps out.

In my case, she helped me make campaign materials when I ran for our council on my 1st year in high school (she was also there cheering me up when I lost), she helped me with school projects especially in home economics when it involved sewing (Nanay is hopeless in these kind of things), she helped in taking care of me when Nanay and Tatay was not around.

Tita Chit was also there for the JRG when it first started. She cooked us breakfast, lunch, snacks, dinner and sometimes on the rare (kuno) occasions that we were allowed to drink, pulutan. She helped in the EDs, gave advises etc.

There was a time however when Tita Chit and I had a rocky relationship especially on my teenage years. She always said that I was being bitchy 99.9% of the time and that I am lazy as hell. At the time, we lived in the same compound, she would constantly nag me about my bitchiness and laziness and fights between us were not pretty.

Being blunt was one of Tita Chit's many talents. She never beats around the bush, she never uses semantics and she does not sugar coat things. When you're ugly, she says so and more, much much more. When you're arrogant, she put you in your place, sometimes lower. This is why along with friends she also made many enemies. Hehehe... This did not bother Tita Chit one bit. Why should it? She is after all a woman who has faced many storms in her life.

She was infamous for her satire and sometimes insulting humour. She is often quoted by friends especially during inuman sessions. She is well known for the crazy stunts she has pulled over the years, in and out of the organization. But most all, she is known for being a good comrade, a loving family member and a dedicated cadre.

It was obvious that she wanted it known that she loved the revolution very much. It was apparent on her last requests before she died. She wanted to last 4 more years. She wanted to witness something that a lot of us have been waiting for in a long time, so she fought her disease and she fought very hard. However, finances were low already and she herself decided to stop the chemo treatment until finally she decided to let go and rest.

Tita, you did not make it to my wedding. I'm sorry I did not get married right away; I promise I will dedicate a toast to you during the reception. ^_^ Boray is with us now, sometimes she's with Tita Nats. She is very much like you, hard-headed and stubborn but don't worry we love her all the same. Nanay is teaching her how to cook; she seems to have the knack for it. She is in good hands.

We will show her the path less travelled and if she chooses to trek it, we will be there alongside her. And Tita- a clench fist salute.