Sunday, May 17, 2015

Mama's 40th day

My grandmother "Mama" passed away more than a month ago and our family got together right around Mother's Day to commemorate the 40th day of her passing away. We started the evening by celebrating mass in Mama's honor. The timing was interesting because it was also Mother's Day weekend so the mass felt even more meaningful to us.

Afterwards, we headed to the house of my uncle where we had dinner. My cousin Rainier is a really good cook and he also brought his famed spare ribs which I got to try for the first time and they were really good! (And I'm not just saying that because he's my cousin.) His immediate family are really into food because his brother (and my other cousin) Mark recently opened a restaurant which was mobbed on its soft opening. Part of our dinner conversation was the fact that their family are looking at opening another restaurant that will feature family favorites. I'm definitely looking forward to that.

After dinner, my uncle's house turned into a makeshift tiannge as my other cousin Carina brought out a huge bag of overruns. A lot of us started looking through the clothes. I ended up getting five long-sleeved shirts because the shirts she had fit me pretty well, unlike a lot of clothes now which are often tight around my midsection (everything now is slim fit hahaha).

The party was far from over by the time I left late in the evening but I couldn't stay too long since I also had a despedida to go to that night. Nevertheless, I'm happy that while we all still grieve for the loss of Mama, we are all able to celebrate her life together. Mama may not have been physically present that evening, but she was definitely with us in spirit.

No comments: