A picturesque life and wedding

Mariano Carrasco

OFTENTIMES we take life for granted. Sometimes we get bored, not knowing what to do—until we get sick, or until we get older, and we realize that we don’t have enough time in our hands. We realize we don’t have enough time to finish things or to finish our plans or dreams. But in reality, we must all admit, we really don’t have enough time as we want. Our worldly  time is truly limited, and it is wonderfully designed so by the Creator.  Otherwise, we will always take time for granted, or we will get bored more often.

We should then treasure each passing minute, each passing hour, each passing day. Every moment won’t ever come back again. Every beautiful moment we share with our loved ones is actually more precious that all the material wealth or material progress this world can offer. Real wealth is in our hearts, in the  simple joys and beautiful memories that   we have  with our children, our spouses, family members, and friends. That is the wealth that no oppressor, no corrupt politician, no landgrabber or backhoe or thief can ever take away from us.

Among my beautiful memories was the time  that Vangie and I had with our kids at the beaches in Bayabas, Opol, Duka, Camiguin and other places in the Philippines. It was pure and simple joy watching the babies or kids frolicking in the sand, and watching them literally grow up before our own eyes, even as we  struggled so hard as lawyers to defend our clients and to earn a living and at the same time join the protest movements against the Marcos regime  together with Attys. Oscar and Bebs Musni, Edgar Cabanlas, Press Club president Jerry Orcullo, and the late Atty. Fred Gapuz . Looking back, it was really a tough, difficult, but still enjoyable life.

Now the kids are grown up and they no longer frolic in the sand. Somehow,  soon they would be living their own lives, building their own families, exploring the world on their own  without us parents.

Their spouses and partners will take our place to take care of them even as we sail off  to the  beautiful sunset of  our lives. God has been kind enough to give us five responsible children and son-in-law.

One is a management engineer, two are lawyers, one is a medical doctor at the Chinese General Hospital, and the youngest is a law student at the Ateneo de Manila. Our son-in-law, Al Genoso, from Lapasan, is also a lawyer and an XU law graduate like Vangie.

Lately, my wife and I had occasion to be invited to a beautiful and charming wedding of the former Mitch Agno and Jan Lagdamen at the picturesque highlands of Tagaytay. The place was simply romantic and heavenly. But the wedding, the bride and groom, the vows,  the songs, and the animated homily of Fr. Jboy, a Jesuit father from CDO, were of course more romantic, charming, and heavenly. Mitch was a small baby yet when Vangie became a godmother to her. Now that she’s in the full bloom of life, ready “to conquer the world,” Vangie and I became principal sponsors and witnesses to a solemn promise and contract that binds them “for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health.”

Now that I’m on dialysis because of kidney failure, I have seen how my wife Vangie has kept her promise. She dutifully and patiently accompanies me to the hospital twice a week, and oftentimes watches over me or sits with me for five long hours at the CUMC dialysis center where my blood is cleared of toxins by modern machines monitored by highly efficient and charming ladies. Vangie seems to be able to juggle everything—attending to me, court hearings, doing the pleadings up to 11 o’clock in the evening, and at the same time campaigning for the 2nd district congressional seat. To me, she’s a superwoman. With the new developments now, she will be campaigning against the use of Lumbia as storage and military facility for American nuclear weapons and warplanes. We cannot allow Lumbia to serve as a nuclear magnet or defense wall in case of war with China or Russia or jeopardize the city and environs in case a nuclear-tipped warplane accidentally crashes.

My task now, which is actually the task of  all, is to find ways to prolong life and make it meaningful, fruitful, and qualitative in accordance with the Creator’s will. Hopefully, God willing, I shall be able to extend it through a kidney transplant wherein my beloved youngest son, Marlo Karlo,  would be the kidney donor. At the end of the day, it really has been a beautiful and picturesque life.