I know I mentioned this once or twice in passing in the blog before, but for the sake of my new readers, I’ll re-tell the (whole) story. 😉

My 2 cousins grew up with us early on when their mom passed away due to complications arising from Lupus before her daughter, Grace, turned 1. Actually, Grace & my Kuya were left under my maternal grandma’s care, who later on in her old age, stayed with my mom. Hence, we all lived together along with my cousin’s Dad who was an unemployed mainland Chinese national. Mahirap maging alien national, pasundot-sundot ang dating ng trabaho, kung meron man. So he wasn’t really able to fully support his small family & had to rely on help from time to time.

As their mom was my mom’s youngest sister, Mommy took on the responsibility of caring for her newly-“orphaned” nephew & niece since she was the only sibling who had the least kids, lol. 2 lang kaming magkapatid, while the rest of her older siblings, parang mga inahin na nagsipag-anakan.. may pito, may walo, may siyam! @_@

Grace, being a Lola’s girl, grew up spoiled & undisciplined. Our lola was around 50/60 na yata at the time so she wasn’t an ideal mother figure –waley nang energy. She let Grace do as she pleased, so ang kinalabasan, may katigasan ang ulo nitong pinsan ko. #pasaway

In a way, I’ve always felt bad for her kasi nga, because of her stubbornness, pinag-pasapasahan na sya between my mom & my uncle who lived in the US. As Grace didn’t want to study at may katigasan talaga ang ulo, and the fact that we also didn’t have a father-figure to enforce the needed discipline, my uncle took it upon himself to take her in. So Grace lived with my uncle & American aunt for around 10 years in New York until she was shipped back to us when my uncle suffered a stroke. My aunt who had 2 girls of her own, felt that she couldn’t deal anymore, so Grace once again came to live with us.

Maybe due to the fact that she craved the love & affection that she didn’t experience growing up, she fell hard & fast with unscrupulous men who would take advantage of her innocence. Kinukuha ang pera nya, niloloko sya, mga tipong ganon. She would secretly “borrow” money from my mom time & again to give to the men she was in current “relationships” with. Nagnanakaw. Never-ending cycle, paulit-ulit, nakakasawa na din.

When she finally ran off with a guy we barely knew & hardly met, my Mom refused to support or acknowledge her anymore. Even our normally patient & understanding Kuya washed his hands off her. Pinabayaan na namin sya to find her love & live her supposedly happy ever after.

Living with my mom, Grace never wanted for anything. Ni hindi nga sya naghuhugas ng plato o maglinis at maglaba man lang. And here she was, running off with a man half her age, a janitor at a mall (hindi po sa minamaliit namin ang trabahong ito, but of course every mother wants more for her daughter diba?) na hindi namin alam kung ano ba ang intensyon sa kanya.

The 3 years that they were married & lived together, naubos ang savings nitong pinsan ko. The money that my Mom so carefully set aside for her dwindled little by little until finally, she can’t even afford their rent anymore.

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Paano ka ba naman hindi magdududa sa pinasukang pamilya? May pa-kotse agad? Ganon?

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Now, my Mom has several rooms & apartments she grants to employees of long standing. Free rent, utilities lang ang binabayaran. Grace asked if she could have one of the occupied apartments since she can no longer afford to pay the rent of their current dwelling. My mom’s heart softened & she assigned one of the currently occupied apartments for my cousin’s use –may pa-kuryente at tubig pa kaya wala na sayang aalahanin talaga. Of course, one of Mom’s staff had to be evicted, unfortunately..

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Minsan, ikaw na yung nagkawang-gawa, ikaw pa ang napapasama. My mom granted a family to occupy this apartment for more than THREE decades. The last 3 years still free of charge even though the person was no longer in my mom’s employ. When Grace saw an opportunity to take this apartment for herself & my mom had to evict the ex-employee, si Atey pa yung masama ang loob. Instead of being thankful that they got to use the apartment rent-free for the past 3 years, ang dami pang satsat at parating. Even the dilapidated steel sheet na bulok na, tinangay pa rin kasi siya daw ang nagpakabit. Pati yung house number in front, pinagdiskitahan at binaklas. And look at how she “took care” of the property. Lahat pinabayaang mabulok. I don’t know how one can live in this sorry state, much more have your family live in this gross environment. Nakakadiri. And this was after we had the place CLEANED na ha. Prior to cleaning, masahol pa sa pugad ng baboy ang itsura, grabe! Molds were everywhere.

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Our Kuya took it upon himself to have the apartment cleaned, fixed & painted -ready for Grace & her small family to occupy. We donated furnitures for her to use as she really has nothing to her name save for the clothes on her back. Her choice a long time ago when she decided to run off & leave the good life she was accustomed to, not ours.

Kuya & I rushed to have her apartment ready in time for her birthday a couple of weeks ago. I even bought her clothes so she has something new to wear for her birthday (na hindi naman sinuot, she prefers her gutay-gutay OOTD), and went grocery-shopping to buy her some things I thought she might need to get her started like bigas, milk for her son, de latas, instant pansit canton, bread & mga palaman, etc. even after Kap’s misgivings: “Sweetheart, wag ka magumpisa at hindi ka na naman niyan tatantanan“.

This on top of the small surprise party we sprang on her (na hindi man lang dinaluhan ng asawa, nasa kuarto daw kasi at nagpapahinga. Padalhan nalang daw ng pagkain).

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Ang problema lang talaga dito kay Grace, she’s like a parasite. The more you give, the more she wants. She just doesn’t know when to stop while she’s ahead, nakakapagod at nakakatakot tuloy tulungan.

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Even after the groceries I bought that was worth almost 10k, imbes na magpasalamat, humingi pa talaga in the guise of “pautang“. We all know naman what that means diba. It’s not the amount that got me pissed eh, maliit lang naman yun. Nainis ako kasi, I’m not expecting anything in return dahil alam ko naman her capacity. Yung sana magpasalamat ka nalang at wag ka na humirit diba? Parang nakakahiya na yata sa akin? @_@ I really told her off, ke pa birthday nya. Pwede ba, wala akong pake sa asawa mo? Aba, gumawa rin sya ng paraan noh? Nanggigil na talaga ako, haba pa ng pasensya ko yang lagay na yan ha.

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I know I have to exercise restraint & patience kasi nga lumaki sya ng walang guidance. No one taught her GMRC, to her defense. But in my menopausal stage, NAPAKAHIRAP KUYA EDDIE! Ang bilis ko talaga mapikon.

Sana, SANA, titino na sya now that she has a child to consider. At sana, SANA, this will really be her happily ever after. Everybody deserves love & happiness, and Grace is no different.

Let’s wait & see, kung sya ba ang susunod na mae-evict ni big brother! 😛