Mildred

HAPPY WEEKEND

By Gina Dizon

SAGADA, Mountain Province -- Known for her happy disposition, Mildred Dewey is the only one named Mildred I know in Sagada.

Mildred is a friend, a sister, a neighbor having stayed a house away in La Trinidad and some 12 houses away from my house here in Sagada.

Fondly called Mortecia or Mertet, good humored  Mildred laughed a lot despite life’s travails. So when she left this physical world on Sept. 8, she is remembered for her jolly soul.

Blessed with a happy disposition, it was a joy to receive a hello, a smile or a jolly laugh from her whenever I saw her. She shared happiness and joy. Not pain. Everyone has his or her own pain. Mildred was not one to spread pain, anxiety or suffering.  

No matter what time of day or whatever state of mind or feeling she was in, she never failed to greet me with a happy smile and a remark to signify it’s a fine morning or afternoon.

She did not bother anyone knowing a sad face depresses people. Better a happy face that brightens the day of people than depress them. She made people cheerful even if she was feeling bad As the Bible says in Matthew 6:25-34, do not worry.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life]? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Life in this world cannot be held on to forever. Life is fleeting. Any minute situations change – like when Yolanda destroyed Samar and Marawi was shattered by bombs and bullets.

Anything can happen. Possessions can be lost anytime and can be gained anytime.  Loved ones die comes a time. Loved ones, friends move to their own directions. Feelings change. People have their own lives. This world is molded by outside factors and everything can’t be controlled.

While this is so, life is meant to be taken responsively and responsibly.    

Mildred reminds that. Life is a fleeting thing so take life one moment in time. Deal with what life offers. Mildred was cheerful and responsible.  As Mildred, an Anglo-Saxon name of Old English origin means "gentle strength," she was that. She took care of her son Marvin till he graduated from college and had his own profession. She was a dutiful wife to her husband Onangey. She took life responsibly with gentle strength and a positive disposition. Live life. It doesn’t pain to share happiness and be cheerful – like Mildred.