I remember being 5 years old when I first met Meldie, my cousin, Jennifer's dog. She was a black miniature poodle, the chillest little dog I knew and the apple of Tito Entes' eye. Meldie would be on Tito Entes' lap while he relaxed after work or simply just being in the comfort of his own home. I would observe him in his black crew dress socks that would hover right below his knees, some shorts or maybe they were boxers and a white t-shirt or undershirt (for some reason I'm picturing sock garters with this getup) with this little miniature poodle on his lap while watching TV, usually something pertaining to history, in his high wingback chair in the Sator's living room. Sometimes he would have the TV remote in one hand and he would be petting Meldie with the other. Every now and then he would take a break from watching something (I, at 5, had deemed as boring), and he would get up, walk to the kitchen, and grab a snack with Meldie still occupying one of his arms.
I remember a few years later, my cousin, Joyce, (whom, I didn't realize was actually named Mary Joyce until I was about 8) brought home a tiny golden beige miniature poodle, which she had named Peso. At first, I thought Peso's name was Chip. I would hear Tita Daisy calling out for, "CHIIIIIIIIIIIP? CHIIIIIIIIIP? CHIIIIIP?" It was that year that I found out that my Tita Daisy's nickname for her husband, Inocentes, or as we called him, Tito Entes, was in fact, Chip. For some reason, I had imagined that Joyce's very small, rambunctious, highly anxious, super cute and fluffy dog was named Chip, maybe like a potato chip or maybe because her size could be likened to a peanut butter baking chip. I digress. When my mom told me that Tito Entes' nickname was Chip, I couldn't understand why and so similar deductive reasoning ensued in my 7 year old brain, "I've seen him eat potato chips before. He must really like them! Oh but I've seen him enjoy chocolate chip cookies as well. Or maybe it's because his hair looks kind of like there could be a chocolate chip on top of his head!" I was a precocious and curious child. I would also witness Tito Entes showing lots of love to little Peso, whenever she would be brave enough to come out from underneath Joyce's bed.
I remember spending wonderful Christmases and summers at the Sator's house. I remember waking up to the sound of frying pans crackling in the kitchen. Tita Daisy would be cooking fried eggs, bacon, or sausage, sometimes SPAM or tocino (Mmmm) and of course, rice. I remember wandering over to the kitchen, guided more so by the scrumptious fragrance of pork, and seeing Tito Entes sneaking in a piece of bacon or two and of course, some for the fur babies. One time, Tita Daisy caught him and she tried to have him leave the kitchen because she was still cooking but he laughed, held her in a sweet embrace and left a little kiss on her cheek, maybe it was a peck, maybe a Chip. That made everything better, which also meant sneaking in more bacon.
I remember how Jenni would get into debates with her father, very civil, very structured, always friendly. I remember how Vincent and Jenni would call Tito Entes, "Dad" while Joyce endearingly referred to him as "Daddy." I remember him having a bellowing laugh. Such a hearty, infectious laugh. I remember when he would wear his gold-rimmed double-bridge eyeglasses. I remember how he would interact with each of his children. And you could tell that he loved them so. I remember him and Tita Daisy treating our family to many Golden China Buffet dinners, among many others but usually Chinese food.
I remember when I was just a little older, Tito Entes had to go to work and Tita Daisy had asked me to sleep in bed beside her that night. I didn't understand it then, but as I am now an adult and have found the love of my life, I get it. She didn't want to be without hers. She thanked me in the morning for occupying the space that was meant for her beloved. I was a mere placeholder. But I accepted that. She was waiting patiently for her Chip. Meldie was there too. I woke up to her on my pillow with tiny butt in my face accompanied by a tiny toot. Her equivalent of a "Good morning, Cousin!"
Speaking of a toot, I remember back in our first house in FL, I must have been in middle school, we were trying to teach Tita Daisy and Tito Entes the rhyme, "Beans, beans the musical fruit, the more you eat the more you---" and every time Tita Daisy would get the last word in the rhyme wrong and would say "fart?” Laughing through our tears, their kids and her husband, would gently explain that she had mixed up the last word with the ending of its sister rhyme also pertaining to flatulence after consuming legumes: "Beans, beans they're good for your heart. The more you eat, the more you---" and Tita Daisy would say, "toot?" And Tito Entes nearly fell to the floor laughing. How could you not? We tried several times to see if she would get it right and for some reason she couldn't. Then we asked her little sister, my mother, Marietta/Mayette, and she also made the same mistakes as her older sister interchanging the "toots" with the "farts" and the "farts" with the "toots." I guess it runs in the family.
I remember Tito Entes' vast collection of books. His love for reading was so inspiring. To this day, I aspire to collect just as many books as him in a massive library. Maybe one day, my Beauty and the Beast sized library will come to fruition. Tito Entes was a true bibliophile. He really inspired me to love reading and to be curious. He was such a fast reader, I swear he would just glance at a page and then turn it and then glance and glance and turn and glance over and over and he would finish a random book about World War II in like an hour.
Tito Entes had such a great sense of humor. And I didn't really realize that until he stumbled across our Cards Against Humanity game at Tita Nina and Tito Percy's 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration. All of us cousins were sitting around this massive dining table just cracking up and Tito Entes walks in and asks what we're all laughing about. So, his children proceed to explain to him how the rules work that someone will turn over a card and everyone else has to choose from their hands of cards, which card would make the funniest combination and if the person who drew the card picks your card, you win that round and get to keep the card they drew as a memento of your victorious round. Of course, Tito Entes picked up on the game quite fast because he started winning. And we had already played quite a few rounds. Just amassing a collection of winning cards like he amassed books. Many of us might say we had "throw away" cards. But we all knew the truth: this well-read, highly educated surgeon, was the cleverest of us all! I can't even remember the combinations that he so brilliantly played. I just remembered since he and Tita Daisy joined the game, our laughs got so much louder and more frequent that we were all crying and I even pulled a muscle in my side and all of our faces were hurting. It was such an incredible time! Oh! There was this one time we were driving past an LA Fitness gym and Jenni says, "Dad, what do you call LA Fitness?" And he says, "It's not L.A. Fitness. It's LA Fitness" and Jenni is already cracking up and says, "Why do you call it LA Fitness, Dad?" And without hesitation and with such conviction he says, "I don't see periods! Do you?!"
I remember Tito Entes being such a brilliant doctor. I remember I was almost 11 and we had just had a huge Thanksgiving party to celebrate surviving nearly a year after a traumatic accident I had endured, as well as my family. After the party, I wasn't feeling too well. My stomach was distended, I couldn't go to the bathroom, there was bile involved...and it was Tito Entes that said I needed to go to the hospital, that I was having a bowel obstruction. That was a great call from a great doctor.
I remember spending a day when I was younger at his doctor's office. I definitely didn't know he was a surgeon then because I thought he would be performing surgery in his office! To my understanding, he sold his practice to take it easy in his later years and chose to work in a prison, tending to what most folks might view as the “undesirable” people in our society. I remember thinking, what a brave man. And as I got older, I realized what a brave, selfless man. He gave everything he had into what he loved, which was helping people, all people, no matter the background, no matter what you did in your life, but especially and most of all, he loved helping his family. And I'm sure he would do it all over again because that is the kind of generous, loving, selfless man he was.
I remember dancing with him during my debut/18th birthday party, as he was one of the 18 roses or one of the 18 most important men in my life then. And as we were dancing, he told me that he remembered when I was a little girl and how I had so much energy and would run around and he said that his advice to me now that I am an adult, is to slow down and truly enjoy every moment that life has to offer. Really just stop and breathe and be thankful for all of the blessings we have in this life. And he was right. He's still right. Of course he's right. What a brilliant guy.
We love you and miss you very very much, Tito Entes. Now, you can be with Meldie and Peso and all of our other loved ones in heaven. I hope God gave you a super comfy high wingback chair to read every single work and document you could ever possibly want to read. I hope the lechon in heaven is better than your hometown in Cebu, which is crazy because they are world renowned for their lechon.
I feel like you gave us all so much that there's no way to really pay you back. Sometimes I feel like I was only able to give you a free week of Netflix so you could binge watch Uhtred of Bebbanburg in The Last Kingdom. He and Tita Daisy stayed at my parents old house for a week one time and he got through ALL of the seasons. ALL. OF. THE. SEASONS. I'm glad I was able to at least give you that. I know I’m a better person because of knowing you. You have positively impacted all of us in so many ways, spoken and unspoken, even if we aren't aware of it. We love you, Tito Entes! We know you're smiling down on us with your huge, infectious smile. I can still hear your very distinct voice. What a voice! We love you, Tito. May God hold you and keep you in his loving eternal arms. And if anyone has the chance, could someone please explain to me where the nickname "Chip" comes from? Thank you. You're with Him now, Tito. Rest.
