“This story is so beautiful,” said my friend Dody Arcaya of Dickies. “Try not to cry.”
STAR’s Remember When? columnist Danny Dolor (see above) couldn’t help it.
“I just read the story and I can’t stop crying,” he admitted.
Both Danny and Dody forwarded to me the story which was forwarded to them by their friends who must have gotten it from their friends as usual without attribution to its author (unknown, unidentified).
It’s feel-good Saturday and, as the inspiring/heart-warming stories are forwarded to me, I will very gladly share them with the readers to veer away their attention from anxiety-inducing news from around the world.
Ready with your hankies?
Letter from heaven
Sally jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said, “How is my little boy? Is he going to be all right? When can I see him?”
The surgeon said, “I’m sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn’t make it.”
Sally said, “Why do little children get cancer? Doesn’t God care anymore? Where were you, God, when my son needed you?”
The surgeon asked, “Would you like some time alone with your son? One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he’s transported to the university.”
Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said goodbye to her son. She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair. “Would you like a lock of his hair?” the nurse asked. Sally nodded yes. The nurse cut a lock of the boy’s hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally who said, “It was Jimmy’s idea to donate his body to the university for study. He said it might help somebody else. I said no at first, but Jimmy said, ‘Mom, I won’t be using it after I die. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his mom.’ My Jimmy had a heart of gold. Always thinking of someone else. Always wanting to help others if he could.”
Sally walked out of the hospital for the last time after spending most of the last six months there. She put the bag with Jimmy’s belongings on the seat beside her in the car.
The drive home was difficult. It was even harder to enter the empty house. She carried Jimmy’s belongings and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to his room. She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them. She lay down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.
It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Lying beside her on the bed was a folded letter.
“Dear Mom, I know you’re going to miss me but don’t think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you just because I’m not around to say ‘I Love You.’ I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day.
“Someday, we will see each other again. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won’t be so lonely, that’s okay with me. He can have my room and old stuff to play with. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn’t like the same things us boys do. You’ll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know.
“Don’t be sad thinking about me. This really is a neat place. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything. The angels are so cool. I love to watch them fly. And, you know what? Jesus doesn’t look like any of his pictures. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him. Jesus himself took me to see God!
“And guess what, Mom? I got to sit on God’s knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important. That’s when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you goodbye and everything. But I already knew that wasn’t allowed. Well, you know what Mom? God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you.
“God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him, ‘Where was He when I needed Him?’ God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children.
“Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I’ve written, except you. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper. Isn’t that cool? I have to give God His pen back now because He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life. Tonight, I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I’m sure the food will be great.
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don’t hurt anymore; the cancer is all gone. I’m glad because I couldn’t stand that pain anymore and God couldn’t stand to see me hurt so much, either. That’s when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery! How about that?
“Signed with Love from God, Jesus & Me.”
A tribute to medical frontliners
Tomorrow, Aug. 31, is National Heroes Day. In these trying times, new-day heroes are the frontliners including those from the medical field.
“I know how they feel,” said Dr. Danny David (photo) who wrote a 22-stanza poem titled Paano? as tribute to his colleagues.
Excerpts:
Paano susundin ang tawag ng tungkulin/Upang gampanan ang sinumpaang gawain/Di inalintana panganib susuungin/Mag alay serbisyo sa Inang Bayan natin
Doctors, nurses, health workers, kalusugang sanghay/Sundalo, pulis, guards, ang Red Cross nakabantay/Ang media, tanod, kagawad, punong barangay/Volunteers, pamahalaan umaagapay
Di biro ang mawalay sa iyong pamilya/Ang piniling propesyon yaong inuuna/Maghapong magdamag hapo di iniinda/Larawan ng malasakit sa mukha nila
Paano namin kayo pasasalamatan/Sa gawaing walang kapantay kabayaran/Pagmamahal sa trabahong ginagampanan/Nakikita at di lingid sa kalangitan
Kulang mga salitang aming ilalahad/Ginawa’t ginagawa n’yo di masusukat/Bawat isa sa inyo kasama ang lahat/Tiklop ang tuhod kaming nagpapasalamat
Pag napawi na ang usok ng kaguluhan/Ang tatag at giting n’yo na napatunayan/Kayo ang mga bida na nasa unahan/Taas noong nakatayo, saludo bayan
Higit sa lahat sa buhay na sinusugal/Idulog kaligtasan nila sa Maykapal/Sa paraang ito atin silang itanghal/Mga bayaning kahanay ng mga banal
(E-mail reactions at rickylophilstar@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)