Phases of Life 1: Goodbye Bing

We said goodbye to one of our friends and kumare this early part of April.

Mareng Bing died from cancer at 54. She is one of our first friends when we first came here in Sydney. Although we have not seen each other often or as often as we would like to, we managed to see her now and again. We visited her as well at the hospital before she died.

It was an eye opening experience for us, too close for "comfort". When we saw her at Prince Alfred Hospital, we spoke about a lot of things. But what caught our attention is her regret for working too hard and not taking time to enjoy herself. I guess, regrets are always at the end of one's life. When all is ending or about to end, we have the time to ponder on things that we should have done: the what ifs of life.

This reminded me once more of a tattoo a young friend of my daughter and son-in-law had. Clinton has tattooed "Carpe Diem" on his arm in big bold letters. A very popular phrase from a Latin poem by Horace; which literally translates to "seize the day".

Wikipedia says: "The most common interpretation of the phrase is as an existential cautionary term with emphasis on making the most of current opportunities because life is short and time is fleeting." An admonition that we should do the things we want or enjoy doing, whether spending time with our loved ones and friends or finding that passion in our lives before it's too late.

In the past few years, Bing went home to Dumaguete City and build a house for her to retire, with partner Michael and her mom. She was looking forward to spent more vacation time in her new home, with her siblings and relatives.

The mass at the Catholic Chapel at Rookwood Cemetery Crematorium (the biggest Necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere) was well attended considering that it was a weekday. Bing's friends took the time to say their final goodbyes. She might have some regrets in the end, but I think and believe she did good by the amount of friends that said goodbye and visited her in the hospital.

Bing was cremated as she wished and her ashes will be flown back by Mamang and Ted back to Dumaguete City.

So goodbye Bing and it's been a privilege and joy knowing you!

(Moderator's notes: "Kumare"; (Comadre) literally means co-mother or co-parent, a "relationship between the parents and godparents of a child common in most Latin communities. "Mamang" is a term for mother.)