The past week was a blur. I went to assortment of events and gatherings, sandwiched with holding on to the memories of my sweet sweet lola. The Gonzales were able to get together again last Friday night, the last night of the wake, where I saw a lot of my relatives again after years of living in diff continents. We have a tita who went home from Australia, two families who went home from Norway, a tito (a former housemate!) and my cousin who came all the way from the States, and our cousin Weng Weng (first OFW cousin, joke namin, hehe!) who went back over the weekend...To say our last goodbyes to our dearest Lola Mameng.
The Black Parade: We all walked going to the church for the mass, then from church going to the cemetery. When I went out of our ancestral house, I was surprised to see a whole barangay waiting for us. I was touched that a lot of people joined us. How many lives did my dear lola touched? I was in awe. Even inside the church, the Gonzaleses received overwhelming love and support. I will forever be grateful for this.
By the end of the mass, dad went over the mic so he can talk about Lola in front of the huge crowd. The daddykins is always assigned with "speech" stuff by his sisters, kapal muks kung kapal muks kasi yan! ;) That's my dad! :) Never afraid of the spotlight. But what broke my heart was when dad had to pause in between his farewell to his mom. The brave one tried to keep his composure, but the cracked voice gave away his sadness.
A cousin told me I was the first one to cry when we had to one-by-one approach and bless Lola Mameng with Holy Water, and nahawa lang daw sila sa akin. Ayet said tumawa pa daw ako, kasi I tried to stop crying. It was emotionally draining, but I am just grateful for my family and the good times we had with our Lola.
Wala na kaming aasarin. We will miss you Lola Mameng!
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