Copyright Quisumbing Family 2008. All rights reserved.
Pop, you're a man of many talents and interests. i will always remember and treasure some of these precious moments:
--holding and comforting me in your arms (pointing at the chirping mayas perched on the guava trees) when i woke up crying one afternoon. how old was i then?
--weaving macrame belts using chairs and door knobs for support.
--making gallons of home-made vinegar, wine and sweets from santol, iba, balimbing, tamarind, guava; brewing native coffee from mindanao; and cooking the family's favorite dishes of sopa gallego, kare-kare, arroz valenciana paella, and lengua with prunes. i only learned to cook sopa gallego and i hope it is as good as yours.
--bringing cuttings of ornamental plants and rare varieties of pitcher plants, orchids, horsetails, monkey's tail (a club moss) and ferns from your mindanao trips.
--sharing some suspense, adventure , love story as well as "censored" pocketbooks.
--listening to classical music and operas. you even got to appreciate the music of Yanni.
--cultivating an array of multicolored bouganvilleas, variegated san franciscos, blooming african violets, lilies, joyas, azaleas, irises.
Pop, i can't believe that you're gone. but i can sense your presence, see your smiling face and feel your gentle touch when drops of rain caress my cheeks, sweet fragrance of flowers and melodious sounds of music fill the air. if one is looking for a perfect (or almost perfect) man: husband, father, grandfather and friend - that's you, Pop. You're the greatest!!!
let me end this letter with -
i thank God for healing my hurts, pains and fears
filling me with love, joy and peace
and
i thank Him for giving me a father who is
patient, loving and understanding.
Death is a necessary passage to eternal life. As Christ said,
"Unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a
grain of wheat. But if it dies, it produces much fruit." (John l2:24)
love you always,
vising
Katrina Quisumbing King
Granddaughter
1997
remembering you
i will remember you
till the day i die
i will remember how you made me laugh
and how your death made me cry
i will remember how you hugged me
and how you helped me along
i will remember the way you smiled
and your face shining so bright
i will remember the day
i heard you died
i will remember you forever.
Marla Q. Baybay
Granddaughter
Written a few days after Pop died and given to Mom on her birthday in 1998
ROSE
Death in a form of a rose,
Its fragile body spent
Lies silently in repose.
Its sweet fragrance lingers
Only in the hearts of those
Who remember its silent beauty.
FOR MY GRANDFATHER
Shall I write to you and burn the letter to ashes
in the hope that my message will reach you
across the heavens?
I know it is too late to tell you that I love you.
What use is it to write,
when you are no longer here?
TEARS
There are never enough tears
to mourn
Nor are they enough
to assuage
the pain that is felt
in the hearts of those
who are left behind.
Charles T. Quisumbing
Grandson
December 2007
My grandfather was mostly in Manila when I was growing up. I only got to see him when he came to stay with us for Christmas each year, when our family visited Manila a few times, and on one single trip to Mambajao.
He was a very silent man who loved reading books and drinking freshly-made local lemon juice. These are all that I could remember of him for I was then too young and somehow we never had a lot of time together… until
My grandfather became ill and had to transfer to Cebu, where he lived the last four years of his life. He stayed in our house for the majority of his last years. And it was during this time that I got to know the person that I was named after. It was during this time that I realized how loving, caring, and wonderful he was in so many ways. I remember him asking my dad how work was. I remember him looking forward to going to Anton’s for lunch by the sea. I remember him asking for chicken nuggets and mamon. I remember him smiling at me whenever I came into his room. And yes, I remember him looking for me to cut his hair.
One day when I got home from school, a sudden emptiness filled my heart as I saw that he was not in his room. Lolo had become so much a part of our home, so much a part of me, that it was so incomplete without him. Until this day, I remember that emptiness.
When I was young, I never had so much time with my grandfather. I am glad that life had its way of putting my grandfather and me together even for just a few years. To this day, I still wish I had a few more moments with him. I still wish for him to look for me to cut his hair. If only I had a few more moments with him, a few more moments to tell him how much I do love him.
Lo, even if life only gave me the chance to be with you for a few years, those were years that could never be replaced and years that I will treasure forever. You will always be a part of my life forever and I will never forget the integrity, the care, the dedication and the love that your entire life is about… I love you so much and I miss you.
