Early this morning, my brother and I received sad news from my mom who’s in the Philippines right now. We were informed that our grandmother passed away. I am sad, my brother, too. I called Steven and he consoled me over the phone. I called my sister-in-law, “Ate Berna”, in Canada, and there was an immediate reaction when I told the news. My brother wasn’t home from work yet. I started to sob a bit, and then paused. I didn’t feel like crying heavily, yet I have this big selfless feeling in me. I feel calm. I don’t know (yet) exactly the time she passed away, but there was one thing that comes to mind that makes me cry… I was able to tell my grandmother on the phone that we love her when she was at the hospital.

When my mom went back home, my grandmother had a sudden improvement in her condition. Just last week before the audition, I was at the promenade singing to her on the phone. When I got back from Chicago, I was able to tell her about my achievement in getting into a big opera company in Chicago. Everytime I would talk to her on the phone, even though she wasn’t able to talk, they said she was smiling. I made my grandmother smile before she left… I also made her proud. The first big thing that ever happened to my singing career, and I was able to share it with my grandma… my lola.