Dear Frankie.

We were not ready for you to leave us so soon. When your family sent me pictures of your body in repose outside the hospital, I didn’t want to believe them.

You looked so peaceful, as if you were taking a sweet afternoon nap. Like you would rise up from your slumber, stretch, yawn, and continue on with your life at any moment, and we would see each other in the Philippines again someday.

But you were gone. My heart and soul ran cold, and my world dimmed as your light left us. What followed was grief and tears for me, my mother, and my sister. Especially my mother, she wept and wept and cried out that just days ago, she’d been messaging you, and you assured her everything was fine and you were taking care of yourself.

Oh Frankie.

You were so much to us. I think back to the long stretch of life we shared together, beginning at our townhouse in Wack Wack, to my mother’s home in Baguio and then to our days around Greenbelt. You were everywhere in our lives. You cared for Simba and Chloe, you looked after my mother, you helped and protected my sister, and you gave me the companionship of a brother.

You celebrated our birthdays; we celebrated yours. All the joyous moments in our lives in the Philippines included you in the picture. And we shared in your grief when you faced the tragedies of life. We grew up together, Frankie, and when we left the Philippines, you became the Philippines for us.

Without you, our former home will never be the same for us. I wish your body had not betrayed Frankie. I wish you had not spent the last years battling for your life. I wish you could live longer and spend more time with your family and with us.

For the rest of my life, I will always think about what more I could have done to help you through these troubled times. This week, we lost a member of our little family. You were loved by us Frankie, you will forever be loved by us and remembered by us as a great and special soul.

My mother, sister and I will think of you for the rest of our lives with love and affection and of course with sorrow that we’ll never hear your voice again or experience the glow of you soft, gentle, and beaming smile.

My last message to you, was “I love you, brother.”

I love you now, and forever Frankie, my brother.

I will miss you and remember you for the rest of my life.