Happy 2014 !!!

Another year has passed and another year has arrived.  What's in a "new year" anyway? 

 

It is a time to have new year's resolution/s that one will eventually break in the next weeks or months to come.  It is a time for fireworks and festivities and to get fat (so you can have a resolution to go on a diet). It is a time to dress up in new clothes and maybe show-off.  It is a time to start anew, make peace and love. It is a time to be thankful for the year that has passed.

 

Whatever it means to anyone, pessimists, aethists included, I just want to be thankful for we are still here, let us be happy that we still breathe the air where we live in and we can still experience life and the world. Who knows when we can celebrate another "new year?"

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all !

 

 

Photo credits to Dave, my inaanak, who captured these pics on Christmas eve.

 

 

There is no single day that I did not love my Dad ...

Daddy Nick

In most eulogies, I hear people say, "I should have told my (person who passed on) that I love him/her," "For those of you who are present, take time to tell him/her that you love him/her.  Do not wait for the moment that you lost him/her before you tell him/her," or things similar.

I lost my dad a few days ago.  He was 86, a few weeks before he was to turn 87.  One wake night, a service was held and the immediate family was called to say something.  We were not prepped for such as we are the type of family who is not into a lot of drama or fanfare. We are minimalists when in comes to celebrations or events.

My mom was called first, she talked about the night my dad passed on.  Mom was brave enough to recount the details and tell everyone about it.

Next was my brother.  He was caught by surprise when the Pastor called his name.  He told everyone that he went home for a few minutes to turn on the lights, but truth of the matter he went home to have a moment to properly say goodbye to Daddy.  He told everyone how perfect the relationship was and he would have not asked for anything else.  The perfect relationship was the non-expressive, minimal emotions, almost-no-talk relationship he had with my Dad.  Well, Dad was like that to all of us.

Then came my turn... First thing I mumbled was, ..."I am the one who is gonna cry."  And I did. 

I am the calm, not easily shaken type of person.  But that night I cried, in front of the my family, relatives, friends and other people I do not know.  It was not a breakdown though.  I have my poise and grace intact still, but I was just mumbling. stuttering through my sentences.

"I just have to tell evryone that I am my Dad's favorite daughter," I said.  Some people chuckled because they know too well that I am the only daughter! (Talk about building rapport with your audience. Ha!)

I affirmed to everyone that my family is not mushy or demonstrative of our emotions.  We are a very simple family - my dad, mom and us 2 children, but blessed with a big family on both sides. 

What I said next was that this will not be a customary or traditional - "I should have told my Dad that I love him" kind of thing. Even if I do not recall saying those words to him, I do not have any drop of guilt, because I know too well, even if our ways are different, there is no single day that I did not love my Dad. And that there is no single day that he did not love me.

Dad, may you rest in peace now.  I am sure that my son, your grandson is there to welcome you in heaven.