Remembering Our Dearly Departed Today

It is our 7th year of observing All Saints’ Day without my parents and we shall be spending the day {mostly the later part of it till the night} at their resting place at the memorial. Very different from its usual peace and solemnity, our local memorial will be filled with people milling about, excited noise and chatter, kids playing with those light up toys tossing them here and there, but most importantly, the place will be filled with flowers, lit candles, and prayers for our dearly departed. I am sure that my Mama and Papa, along with the many souls whose remains lay in the memorial grounds, will be happy to be remembered and prayed for today.

I was not able to get those special candles which my Mama used to get for her parents and brother when she was alive, but I do hope she liked the green tea-scented we got for her and Papa, instead. I am sure she will also be delighted at the sight of the many tea candles we plan to light up today.

It will never be easy losing someone you love dearly, sure I lost my one and only tito when I was in kindergarten but I was too little to remember the loss now, whereas I will feel the loss of my parents every single day of my life, but to know that they are happily looking down on us from heaven, and that they are in a much better place now with our Creator, is more than enough consolation. I look forward to reuniting with them one day.

I hope you had a meaningful and safe day remembering and celebrating the lives of your dearly departed. Let us keep their memories alive by praying for their eternal repose and celebrating the life they led when they were still with us. Most of all, let us never cease to follow the invaluable lessons they taught us when they were still alive, let  us not stop  loving them, just like what my parent’s tombstone say:

“love is how you stay alive, 

even after you are gone.”  ~ Mitch Albom