In Memory of my Ate Cel

This post is rather late, my cousin Ate Cel endured two years of battling cancer and at 38, finally joined our creator on April 5, 2011. I blogged about her being sick a few years back. One day during her wake, a friend and a HS classmate of mine, Rachel, who also lives in the same subd. came by to visit. The last time we saw each other was probably after HS or a lil after that, I learned from her that It’s just her and two of her brothers, are the only ones left in their huge house, (I remeber their parents had it remodeled and got all seven of them each rooms to lessen all the squabblings) her other siblings have married and her parents are already in the US since 2003. We indeed had a lot of catching up done, this just means that not everything can be told through social networking sites such as Facebook. I also would want to dedicate this post to Rachel’s dad who passed away in the US a few days after we had that chat. I also wish Rachel peace and serenity during these times, since I very well know she’s a Daddy’s girl and being the youngest, the family’s baby.

A Life Well Lived
by Donna Maris

Ready or not, some day my Life will end.

There will be no more sunrises, days, hours or minutes.

Every thing I will have collected, be it treasured or forgotten, will pass to someone else.

It will not matter what I owned or what I was owed.

So will my hopes, ambitions, plans, and To Do List: All will expire with me.

It won’t matter where I was born or what side of the tracks have I lived.

It won’t matter whether I was clever, beautiful or brilliant.

So what WILL matter?

How will my life be valued?

Not what I received, but what I have shared and given you.

What will matter is not what I learned, but what I have taught.

What will matter is not my competence, but my integrity and character; my true grit.

What will matter are not my faded memories, But the memories of those who knew and have loved me.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.

It is one made of choice; one of my own choosing.

I choose to live a life that matters.