Araceli enjoyed quiet moments with her adopted cats and dogs. She also loved movies, fine dining, decorating the house, spending Saturday nights with us...her children, in laws and grandchildren. But most of her precious time were spent with the Lord. She read the Bible, prayed the rosary twice a day and went to mass regularly. She was soft spoken, timid and painfully shy. She was known for being clean, neat and orderly especially when it comes to home decors and designs.
 
She graduated from the University of the East, Bachelor of Arts major in Commerce-Banking and Finance but gave up her career early on to take care of the family and look after the house. She was the youngest daughter in a brood of five of Emiliano Leano Castro and Epitacia Cruz Cunanan. She was born in Baliuag, Bulacan a peaceful town in the northern part of Luzon. Her favorite colors were white, blue, brown, black and gray. She loved Italian and Chinese food. She was health conscious, meticulous with things related to our house and conservative. I had never seen mother wear shorts, blouses with plunging necklines, pants or skirts above the knee. She always wore long skirts or long dresses even at home. She was also a philantropist in her own right.

Araceli was married to the late Andres Navarro Bulay, a lawyer and realtor who passed away in 1998 at the age of 59, from lung cancer. They had 3 children...Angelica, Athena and Andres III.

My mother was our best friend, spiritual adviser, confidant, motivator, etc...almost everything a doting mother should be. She was a devoted servant of God. I remember her refusing to go out on Saturday nights if we do not agree to go to church first. In fact, I spoke to one of her confidants during the wake and he advised us to pray that Mom finds her way down to Heaven not up to Heaven because he thought that she had been very loyal to God that she might have gone beyond and above Heaven. It was just a joke but was actually meant to tell us that she is already with the Lord because she did not take her faith for granted and she had been a very good Christian.

My mother was killed by a man she tried to help. She hired him as a houseboy, fed him, gave him a decent shelter and treated him like a member of the family. He turned out to be a desperate mentally deranged drug addict who killed her for money.

That day according to one of the witnesses, she just finished reciting the rosary in the morning and was feeding her adopted kitten, Tiny when he attacked her.

To this day, almost three months after her death, I still cannot believe that she is already gone. I spoke to her two days before she died and was so enthusiastic about my homecoming. I was planning to spend more time with her and was contemplating on going back home for one year to see if I will like it. Since I moved to Canada, my mind had always been HOME. I was married for 8 years but considered my mother as my HOME. Even my ex husband accepted it.

Mother is long gone but I can still feel her love around us. She was my past, my present and my future. She never left home without us...her family. She only knew that house as her Home and her sanctuary. It was also my Home until an evil man took her away from us.