It is Sunday as I write this piece. I have now committed myself to make every Sunday a “Parents’ Day”. After posting some articles here, I am off to pay my parents a visit.

Since Nanay had that bad fall two weeks ago, she has not fully recovered. Doctors found no fracture but she has been spending most of the time in bed, as she complains of incessant pain whenever she stands or sits for a longer period.

Tatay is, apparently, in the words of my sister — going “low batt” already. He is turning 86 this September 21, and he has noticeably lost his usual zest. Only last March he supervised the cutting of bamboo trees — which hubby needed to build a rest shed — at the riverbank in the back of their house and personally delivered them here to us, with a driver, using my brother’s truck. But lately his blood pressure has been eratically going up and his cardiologist has detected a heart enlargement.

I feel sad that I have not been able to spend more time with my parents. For the most part of my life, I was away from them. I left home for college at 17 and would only occasionally come home during breaks. Not long after I graduated I got married and settled down and kept a home of my own in Dagupan City, a good 20-30 minute (traffic excluded) drive from their house in Sta. Barbara. And now that they are in their twilight years, I want to make up for the lost moments and spend with them as much time as my schedule allows.

I can’t help but get emotional when I see my parents fading out. I feel like one part of me is being taken away.

But life is a cycle. One generation may end yet the next ones will fill the void and keep the circle going. Each of us has a place in this cycle. And though we may depart and not to come back, we shall always leave our marks behind to show the traces of our lives.