Once In A Lifetime

Chapter 3: A Living Legacy

"Death leaves a heartache
no one can heal, love leaves
a memory no one can steal."
-------

~Flashback~
Year: December 11, 1967

Linda was busy decorating the house for Christmas. For the past days, she was engrossed putting all the Christmas decorations on their respective places with the help from Manang Pacing and her son, Crispin. The lanterns were already hanged a week ahead in front of the house, casting a sparkling rainbow of lights amidst darkness, illuminating the ancestral home of the Santoses. The labyrinth of wreath showcased in the entrance hall was a reflection of the host's welcoming spirit that led to the old wooden staircase matched with bows and ribbons aside from the glittering balls of different sizes and colors. These too were already in place the same time when the lanterns were hanged complementing the beauty and radiance of every items inside the house.

Now Linda was working on the Christmas tree. She asked Denis, her husband, to buy a new one, since the old one was beyond repair, which was already worn out by time. The new one, a six feet tall, arrived last night, but Linda was too busy to dress it right away.

This morning, after Denis left for work, she asked Manang Pacing again to assist her as she did the previous week. This time, Crispin could not extend a hand. He was busy pacifying some trouble in the farm.

Linda started to adorn the Christmas tree with her own unique crafts accumulated since she was young and some assorted works from her Mom. She remembered how her Mom rearranged everything in the house every time she would introduce her piece of art to the family. She had inherited this artistic side of her from her Mom, Luisa. The same name she would give to her baby - Luisa Denise - when her OB-Gyne announced it would be a girl. Oh...how she missed her parents. Everything in the house was a legacy she wanted to keep for her own children in the future.

Mr. & Mrs. Carlo Santos, Linda's parents, inherited the house from Carlo's parents. His two younger sisters, Ellise and Eloisa, the twins, died in a vehicular accident when they were both young, leaving Carlo and his mother the only survivors. Few years after the car accident, Carlo's ailing mother passed away, joining her husband in eternal repose. His parents died one after the other, before he could even make a family of his own. The house grieved. Carlo could not take the deafening silence in the big house. He decided to move out for a while leaving the young Pacing, who was barely 17 years old then, to look after it.

Two years later, the house was again relive when Carlo settled down and brought his wife Luisa in the house. The couple was blessed with two kids - Luis and Linda.

The house brought so much memories. That's why when Linda got married, he convinced Denis to live here as they start a new family while her brother, Luis, entered the seminary.

Back then when they were young, the house was always alive and filled with so many people. Her Mom loved to entertain visitors along with relatives and friends in the dining hall enjoying the bounties prepared for every occasion like fiestas, baptisms, birthdays, anniversaries, reunions, Christmases and New Years. The whole year round, there was always reason to celebrate and keep the family and relatives in touched with each other on a regular basis. That family tradition was nowhere now. Yet, Linda was determined to bring back the life in every corner of the house.

Denis and Linda decided to have as many kids possible, until the house would be filled with their laughter. She was an expectant mother now. In due time, the first child's cry and laughter would reecho in this old house, where the past and the present just blend perfectly to create a meaningful future. Their children would grow, live and die in this house, just like the rest of her ascendants, making a legacy that could never be forgotten. One that lived on for many generations to come.