Len stories

Last December, Jand, a high school classmate and friend, sent me a note through my blog, and part of his message reads:

I know my loved ones are alive because I am alive and that my nephews will know them too because I will manifest their being through me, in stories, and that part of me that they have managed to infect. That is how I have known my father (who died when I was two)--- through my kin's stories and their lives. And the same goes with my grandmother (who taught me how to cook her signature adobo)--- my nephews will get to know her as I share with them the part in me that is her.

Your sister is alive in you, if that means anything.

Yes, Len is alive in me, alive in the memories I have of her. Just as she is alive in every one of you, whose lives she had touched, even for the briefest moment.

Each one of us has a 'Len story' - funny, sad, annoying, exasperating, happy, crazy, weird, enjoyable, memorable Len stories, which, when we remember them now, would oftentimes make us either smile or cry, or even smile and cry.

My family and I would like to hear those stories. And share those stories to anyone who's willing to listen. Or in this case, read.

We would like to request you all to share with us your Len stories, and we shall publish them in this blog. If you can also ask your other friends, classmates, schoolmates, officemates, etc., whose lives, at some point, intersected with Len's, to also send in their stories, it would be much appreciated.

Language? English, Filipino, Bicol, it doesn't matter. Number of words? As long or as short as you would want it to be. Content? Anything that reminds you of Len, or the times you spent with her.

Len was not a saint - she was a wonderful, friendly girl prone to temper tantrums and horrible PMS moments, but with a heart big enough to embrace us all.

We invented the phrase 'bad spirit' for her, to describe how she was when she was rudely awakened, but she also gave us crazy nicknames which break our hearts every time we utter them now.

She would go out of her way to reach out to anyone who needed her help, from doing her classmates' homework to sending kids to school, but she could also ignore you for days if you dare cross her.

She invented crazy games and annoying pranks, but her laughter was so contagious you'd end up laughing yourself, laughing at yourself. But once she started crying over her Korean telenovelas, she would shoo you out of the room, and would tickle you mercilessly if you so much as mentioned one word about it to anyone else.

I miss her. We all miss her. And I know that it would be hard for most of us to recall the moments we spent with her, and to write about those moments. But in remembering them, we remember her. In writing about them, we're ensuring that Len would always be alive. And in sharing these memories with other people, we're letting them know how once upon a time, a special girl lived and shared her life with us.

You can send your Len stories through any of the following:

• email - kalinga.lia@gmail.com
• post - Kalinga Lia Wall in Facebook
• comment - this entry

Thank you all for helping us keep Len's memory alive.

Goddess bless.