To live in the hearts of those we love is never to die- Thomas Campbell

Last April 9 at around 9 p.m. I received a text from my niece, “Ate Dez, di na gumagalaw si Tatay and ‘di na humihinga” I am not yet done on my reply when this time, I saw her name on my phone calling. She confirmed that my father is already dead. Ian and I went to my parent’s place and we were there in less than an hour. We saw him lying in the couch and he just seems like sleeping. Only, no pulse and no longer breathing.

The funeral service arrived later, he was transferred from the couch into the stretcher and covered him in a life size zip bag.  It was only then that it finally dawned on me that he is already lifeless, dead…

We were blessed to have him around with us until his eighties. He should’ve been 81 by next month. The outpour of sympathy, condolences and support from family, relatives, friends, neighbors, acquaintances overwhelms us all and helps us a lot to cope up with the loss of our father. He is indeed loved by many.

During his wake, people would recall the moments how my Tatay touched their lives in different ways, from simple gestures to small talks, etc. The two nights of his wake was filled with uplifting prayers and songs from two singing groups of our younger brother’s circle of friends. Those angelic voices surely gave out Tatay a smile from afar.

On his third day and last day, there was a funeral mass held for him at Holy Trintity church before he was cremated at a chapel in North cemetery.

As the priest say in his homily, “ Sa pagpanaw, una-una lang. Pwede ring huli-huli ka, or by batch ang paglisan.”

Nauna na si Tatay, nagbibiruan pa kami, “magkikita rin naman ulet sa kabilang buhay, pero wag muna agad-agad!” 😀

Goodbye Tatay, ‘Till we all meet again, we’ll surely miss you!