Dennis Tonel


We were cleaning our house in Catalunan Grande yesterday when I found this note that my sister-in-law, Denise, wrote on the night before Papa was laid to his final resting place. I found the note among all the papers and other things that she hoarded 😁 in her room in the house.  This was supposed to be read before Papa's funeral. 

Denise was quite unwell that evening. Long hours and tiring travel from Quetta, Pakistan, lack of sleep, distress of losing Papa, and fighting all the sadness and tears took a toll on her body.  When we took her home to Catalunan from San Pedro funeral home, she couldn't go inside the house because she didn't have the key with her. She had to then ride a taxi back to her condo at around 2AM and still, she managed to find some energy left to write this note for Papa. 

She was able to read this note at Cathedral after the funeral mass. Unfortunately, the sound system was terrible, people could hardly hear what she was reading. So I thought, I better save this note here because it's beautiful, especially since it was written with all the efforts she put in that early morning.


Dennis Tonel

He was born lucky. My grandma said that he almost died inside my grandma's womb. Hence, the name Dennis was taken from a ship survivor my Lola found on a paper. As a kid, he was really fun-loving and mischievous. I could imagine him as the Dennis the menace cartoon character. But why was he so loved by his family and friends?

1) He was selfless, never selfish as a person. If you see us his children as generous, it was because of him. He would tell me, "Anak if you visit your grandparents, even if you have no money, bring something - maski 1/2 kilo fish. This will make them happy. 

2) Peace-loving brother to his siblings. If there were family problems, he would say to them "pasagdi na lang"

3) He may not be the best provider, but he is the most doting father to his children, Denise, Edenn, Hanna and Son-in-law, Sugeng. 

We will not be able to taste his yummy food and cooking. 

4) He was a loving and obedient son to his parents. He used to do the heavy household chores his mom would ask him, he was Lola's precious boy - Lola had searched for him when Pinatubo erupted. he was the one attending Lolo at the hospital when he was sick. His parents died in his arms, and now he is in their loving arms. 

5) He was a caring, thoughtful uncle to his nieces and nephews. he would always remind me if their birthday comes. his love overflows - that all of them showed their love and affection in return when he was sick. "Your papa deserves a beautiful send-off". 

6) To his friends - he was fund-loving, funny and genuine. That's why he could keep friends for a lifetime. 

7) He may not be rich, but he defined the true meaning of love - selflessness. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Land of Atoni

Image
The sun was setting down and the temperature was dropping slightly. It was a different feeling to see the sun setting here at this mountainous range compared to seeing the sunset at Kupang bay. We were camping at Lelogama, a village about a three-hour drive from Kupang city. Kupang is the capital of Nusa Tenggara Timur Province, located in the southwest tip of Timor island, an island shared by both Indonesia and Timor Leste. The silence was a bit eerie. It was so quiet that we could barely hear anything. Our ears had gotten used to all the city sounds, the roaring motorcycles, neighbour kids’ crying, street vegetable vendors blowing their horns and, recently, more frequent ambulance sirene passing by as COVID cases worsened. None of these noises was there for us to hear. I couldn’t help but miss winter in Australia. The sight, smell, cold temperature and similar terrain did remind me of Australia. Lelogama was once a difficult place to reach. Government officials from Kupang had to tra
Read more

You're stronger than you thought

Image
  Everyone has his or her own struggle in life. We all had our ups and downs, and that makes life so interesting and inspiring. I have been many times amazed by triumphant stories of people around me who once reached the lowest point in their lives, but then came out even stronger.  My close friend, let's call him Andy, had an inspiring life experience that taught me that we are stronger than we thought and whatever that life throws at us we can always rebuild again.  Andy has a master qualification from an overseas university. He was offered a job even when he was still studying. Immediately after completing his study, he travelled away from his hometown to his new job. Unfortunately, in this first job experience, he had to face a bad character at the office, but he managed it well. He braved through a couple of years working in such a difficult environment and completed his contract.  He was then offered for another job, but it was a position in a project pending for approval to
Read more

Happy Father's Day in Heaven Pa!

Image
  Happy Father's Day Pa. I never know about Father's Day because we don't have such celebration here in Indonesia but it's a celebration in the Philippines so here I am greeting you.  On this day, I just wanted to take some time to remember simple things that you like.  You know pa, even until now if I come across all these things when I walk around at the grocery stores or at the stores in malls, I'd automatically think of you.  Black T-shirt with a nice picture of eagle, a bulldog or lion. Yes, this is your favourite kind of t-shirt other than orange or red colours.  This is your forever favourite snacks from Indonesia.  I still remember I have to buy it in big packs to bring home to Davao, sometimes I even finished the whole stocks at Farmer's market grocery store.  "Don't forget nak, to buy the 'ointment'!", you said, while you actually referred to the face soap.  At first, we didn't believe that you actually use this expensive toot
Read more

Bagaimana Cara Mengatur Portfolio Investasi kita?

Image
  Saat saya menulis blog ini, kondisi bursa saham di Amerika masih terkoreksi, suatu istilah di pasar saham yang berarti harga jatuh drastis dalam waktu yang singkat, dan penurunan harga ini diprediksi masih akan terus berlangsung dalam beberapa waktu ke depan. S&P 500 (SPY), sebuah indeks saham yang terdiri dari  sekitar 500an perusahaan besar di Amerika telah mengalami penurunan sebesar 20% sejak awal tahun. 3 July 2022 Para analist memprediksi penurunan masih akan terus berlangsung dalam waktu yang akan datang mengingat tingkat inflasi per Juni 2022 masih tinggi di angka 8.6%. Secara sederhana, pemerintah Amerika harus terus menaikan suku bunga agar dana pinjaman yang beredar akan berkurang karena berhutang ke lembaga keuangan semakin mahal dan ini akan mengerem roda ekonomi dan diharapkan tingkat inflasi akan menurun.  Kondisi pasar saham Indonesia (IHSG) sendiri masih berwarna hijau. Ada banyak analisa yang mengatakan bahwa pasar Indonesia belum terpengaruh karena kita banyak
Read more

Living in a Kos in Jakarta

Image
  I always see my life divided into various chapters and this is a chapter about living in a rented room of a boarding house in Jakarta or what we call "Kos".   After living a dream life on my wife's family farm in Davao, Philippines for about three months, I had to return to Jakarta, sadly just about a week after my father-in-law was buried.  I had to return to Jakarta because the company that I'm working for just won a new project for another four to eight-year timeframe, and we had to re-establish many systems in the project to be delivered within seven months.   I was lucky that Indonesian technology companies are so far advanced that basically, you can get whatever you need over the internet or online. Our investing companies, financial technologies, banking systems, and online stores are so far ahead compared to the Philippines or even Australia, but maybe my recollection of Australia is no longer updated. Things may have changed.  With the help of a couple of f
Read more