Random Reflections on Some Growing Old Moments in my Life

Another factor why I felt like this was the worst school year ever was the fact that my aunt was terribly sick for three days. Last Monday, my tita (my uncle's wife) and I brought my aunt to the hospital at about 5 in the morning. My aunt's has been having terrible stomach pain since last Saturday and she definitely could not bear the pain anymore. She has always been having that condition before, but contrary to the previous similar situations that happened, what transpired just a few days ago was something different. Her upset stomach would normally be fine again after a few hours, but it wasn't the same case as before. That is why we decided to bring her to the hospital.

There were even several arguments before actually bringing my aunt to the hospital. My grandmother and I were arguing about the money to be spent in my aunt's hospitalization. Certainly enough, we were quite short on cash because my mother had also been hospitalized two months ago and she has recently retired from work; in addition to that, I had to pay for my tuition fees a few weeks ago. We didn't have money to spend right there and then. However, we decided that it would be best to bring her to the hospital anyway.

I was already in my teacher's uniform as early as 4am, and we went to the Bautista Hospital right away. I was even a bit queasy about it because there were two men who met an accident and were brought to the hospital. As the nurse was trying give my aunt an emergency drug, my eyes could not help but settle into the sight of two men lying helpless on the hospital bed, with head bruised and all. One of the men's feet was even bleeding, and they had to pull over a trash can covered with some newspapers to have the blood drip freely from his foot.

My aunt felt better, but the drug was not enough to actually ease the stomach pain. In the afternoon, we decided to bring her to another doctor to finally diagnose other medicines. Thankfully, my aunt is already fine now.

I found it hard to have a sick family member. My grandmother, who is also staying here in our house cannot move as fast as she did years ago; hence, I have to do all of the work at home. I was thinking that I really wanted to call up the school and tell them that I'll be absent to take care of my aunt. However, the fact that it was the first day of classes and it would be a shame if I would be absent made me drag myself to work. I felt bad about it because I wasn't there for my aunt when I was really needed. That fact urged me to even yearn more for the days to speed up and finally end my contract as a teacher in this SUPERB institution.

Oh well. If I always tell my students that everything is a part of growing up, it's more of a "It's a part of growing old" for me. I have reached the silver age when all of the people wonder mainly about two things: first, when will they land an excellent job, an second, when will they eventually marry.

Damn it.