When the Pope Walked, She Quietly Followed Him

That's what my lola did on a Sunday morning. After two days in a weakened state, grandma went to a deep sleep and into another journey of her life, the same trip and train ride where Pope John Paul II will be in. And what a marvelous and peaceful end it was, just like I think, what she wanted to happen.

She had always led us to a life of prayer -- recited the rosary every night, added by numerous travels every Wednesday at the Baclaran church, daily novena, Sunday masses, three o'clock prayers, El Shaddai praises, Lady of Fatima door- to-door weekly 'pilgrimage' (also a self-serving neighborhood watch), the works. I remembered leading a rosary once among her old lady friends and also the Way of the Cross on Holy Week. She had been strict with us grandkids and cried just like every mother should. Her devotion and prayers never faltered even though one day her mind did to a degenerative disease.

For her fully booked daily devotion schedule, the rest of her time was spent taking care of us. For a while she lived in our household as she watched us grow and as we watched her grow old. Her real specialty was making 'leche flan' for that yearly family reunion and birthday parties. Until such time she can no longer cook she spent it watching television. But not all her life was as serious as it seemed. There was the great technology prohibition of the 90s, where a thermal fax machine was considered a contraband. When a meter man rang our house one day Lola initially thought it was the phone man. She pulled out the wires and out of panic literally carried the fax machine like an old time looter; she could have just used the piece of cloth we hide the machine with. And then there's the 'innocence askew' of my childhood when my sis and I thought that the kittens she promised to give us hidden in her cabinet were real turned out to be ceramic ones (duh, the cabinet should have somehow given us a clue). At a time we might have confused her memory lapses for her absentmindedness. Irregardless of what happened we all loved her.

And while the ailment may have shrank back all the memories, songs and prayers from her towards the end of her life, it has not defeated lola's purpose to leave a religious legacy for her family. Even if the words she wanted to express were lost I hope, with the Pope's help (while on the train bound for home) will help her bring it back again.