This past week, the patriarch of a very close family friend passed away..
I really don't know the feeling of losing a father (and I really don't want to experience yet it at this point in my life) but I know how painful it is to lose someone so dear to your heart. Being at the wake brought back memories of the passing of my own grandfather.
When my grandfather died, I was still ten years old then. When my dad told me "wala na si lolo" (lolo is gone), I cried.. because at that moment, I knew that I won't see him again. My sister, who was 8 then, asked "sinong lolo?" because she was confused which lolo my dad was referring to. Unlike me, I knew that the "lolo" my dad was referring to was my paternal grandfather. I was a lolo's girl. Siguro, it's given already since I'm the eldest granddaughter and all.
On the way to the chapel, I was crying silently and when my dad stopped the car, I pushed the car door open and literally jumped out, though I didn't know which way to go, I just walked to where the people were. There were so many people. I remember there were lots of people with cameras on their hands, people grabbing me, leading me to the coffin, but I couldn't see their faces. If my memory serves me right, the first person I hugged and recognized was my grandmother. Then they lead us to the coffin because they were going to open it for the family to see the remains (My grandfather had a closed casket wake). I remember my tito Cito holding a large photo of my grandfather which he used a shield from all the cameras of the press. We were given 5 minutes. And then, they closed it.
