This is the second time this month that I am saying goodbye. This time, though, it’s to someone much more closer.
My brother-in-law passed away this morning. Everything just happened too fast. They found him unconscious at home yesterday afternoon and rushed him to the hospital. The doctors said he ruptured a nerve in the brain, which caused blood to spill on most parts of his brain. I think the medical term is aneurysm.
He was unconscious when they found him and he remained unconscious until he passed earlier today. He was 44 and is survived by my sister and their three children.
I saw last him in December when I went home for Christmas vacation. We didn’t really talk much because I was busy with a lot of things. Looking back, I regret not spending more time with him then; I should have talked to him more. We didn’t even get to drink beer together or go to a KTV that time, something that we did a couple of times before when I went home — something that I know he enjoyed but couldn’t do more often.
He was the one who inspired me to learn guitar when I was in high school. “Chicks dig guys who can play the guitar,” he told me once. So I practiced and practiced until I was good enough to join a band. And he was right.
When they were living in Naga, I remember visiting them from Manila for a few days. He took me out for beer and we got really drunk. And then he took me to the restaurant at the ground floor of Crown Hotel and we had the best beef brisket I’d ever tasted. Until now, I don’t know if it tasted really good because it was really good. Or if I was just too drunk to know better. We never had a chance to go back sober to try their beef brisket again.
My memories of him are few. And because of that, I will miss him more. I should have spent more time with him.
Manoy, I’d smoke with you once again even though I had already quit. If only we could. You were a good man who loved my sister and my nephew and nieces — in your own special way.
We will miss you. Say hi to Papa for us.