In Loving Memory

It really was just another regular day. I was on my daily call with mom, asking how’s dad and what not. But in the distance, I overheard my cousin, Reno, asking my mom about my grandma’s insurance card. She was planning to be brought to the family doctor because she felt under the weather for the past three days. Then, we just carried on with our day and I was happily watching a series on Netflix before I was planning to go back being productive.

At around 6:30, I got one missed call from Ray and I wondered why he called. It was so out-of-character he would call on days where he’s busy. Then, my phone rang for the second time and I picked it up. I couldn’t really heard what Ray said other than “ please come home quickly and no questions ask!”

I ended up asking my other cousin and they mentioned that grandma is in a critical condition and just a few minutes after, they texted me that grandma has passed. I couldn’t process what I was reading and hearing. I felt instantly nauseous and even to the point where I alerted everyone in my neighborhood. They wondered what happened and that I sounded so ill. I told them that I am fine but I just heard that my grandma has passed.

Thankfully, I got back home quickly. I got the fastest train I could and arrived at 2:30 in the morning. My grandma was laying motionless but she looked pretty. Her wrinkles weren’t present. She looks as if she was in her prime, beautiful and so youthful. It was still unreal that she passed without any terminal illness looming around her. Not just us, but a lot of her friends felt the shock as she was just meeting them about two days before.

While we’ve had our differences and sometimes, we didn’t get along, there were moments when those differences were put aside. She nursed me back to health when I got ill and especially when my mom was at the hospital taking care of my dad. She made sure that I was eating and even served me hot tea every morning along with a toast. She always does this little thing that shows her love towards me and to all of her grandchildren. As the eldest in the family, I was the one who also supported her and kept the kitchen running. Sometimes she even rejected the money I gave her because she knew that I was struggling. It pains me to know that the last time I met her was when our differences seemed to grow wider and almost irreconcilable. I thought I could work on that later but now, she’s no longer with us.

Everyone in the family felt an immense loss. That also extended to her friends, relatives, and all the people she got to be acquainted with. Everyday, we’ve had over 200 guests day and night. Even my mom’s friend came to visit and so are my aunt’s and uncle’s friends since they also knew her. She was respected and loved by everyone that crosses her pathway in life.

All of us got our closure we needed and a proper goodbye, we saw her before she was sent into the burial ground. We took her there and watched until she was buried just in front of my grandpa’s burial site. We all hope that both of them get reunited and live again as a couple up there. We hope that she’s happier out there and we’ll definitely miss the way she does little things to all of us and we’ll miss seeing how things in our house lined up so perfectly because she hates seeing messy things especially the shoes.

We’ve received so much help during the last five days. We didn’t really struggle hosting the guests where we have to serve food for 7 days. I’ve been mostly busy with preparing the food, taking care of the finances and moving things around. While other family members and my other cousins have their own set of tasks, we worked together as a family to host and welcome the guest.

Personally, these past few months have been pretty challenging. I’ve lost my biological dad, my adoptive one got into hospital and now, my grandma passed away. It felt forever to me but they were all happening in just a few months apart. I don’t know how mostly I’ll be recovering financially from all that but life finds its way, that’s what I believe. While emotionally, I’ve lost way too much in life and I feel like while the first few days were hard, I’ll be mostly fine after that as I am getting used to it by now.