Heading Home

It has been an exhausting and sleepless week for all of us, but it has been very good to be around family and spend time together. Grandma has handled this great loss with dignity and grace and she has set the example of showing us all that she clings to the hope that we will see grandpa again when Jesus comes back for the resurrection. The legacy that Lolo left is ingrained in the grandkids and we all had a great time reminiscing of time spent with him. He left the family with 3 significant legacies: 1) family is priority... when he was able to, he rarely missed a meal with the family and will go to whoever needs him  2) do not waste anything: Ruth summed it up well: recycle, reuse and refurbish. He never wasted anything and tried to fix all that he could and never waste food. 3) incredible work ethic is how Frendell said it. Lolo would get up everyday and look around and see what needed to be done and then he would do it. No one had to ask him, no one had to remind him. He looked for purpose wherever he could.

But ALL, including me, will always remember Lolo for the wonderful chef/baker that he was. He worked for the Protocol Officer and also an American Journalist, both for the American Embassy in Manila, as a chef/baker. I remembered Lolo baking apple and rhubarb pies and Frendell's favorite, lemon meringue when we arrived to Chicago after we got married 17 years ago. Froy's memory of him was way back when they lived in Winnipeg and he and Frendell had to clean out some 'weeds' in the back. They avoided the chore until one day, he saw that all the weeds have been cleaned and Lolo was chopping the weeds in the kitchen. He was concerned that Lolo was going to eat the weeds. Later on, Lolo served them the weeds:  he had made it into rhubarb pie. Froy did not know that the 'weeds' were rhubarb... he had turned nothing into something good.  Kaydee reminded us all that even though Lolo was already 90-yrs-old when she got married in Florida in 2001, he flew down there with Lola and danced at her wedding. All the cousins got on the dance floor and danced with Lolo and Kaydee. We couldn't get Lola on the dance floor though, no matter how hard we tried :-)  Karen remembers Lolo always having either cookies or pies for her when she got home from school. Winnchee spent time in the kitchen with grandpa learning his recipes, especially for apple pie. And she was very close to getting it. All his 3 daughters inherited his love of cooking and his dedication to family. We met for the first time our cousin Lito Maggay, who resides in London, England. Even though he traveled far and was in dire need of sleep, he went along with the schedule and ate and laughed and cried and took pictures and walked and reminisced and looked at videos of Lolo and Lola and ate some more and just spent time together being together.  

After the internment on Friday, different cousins left for different parts of the country and US. Today, most of us will be gone, and Lola will be left behind with Auntie Rebing and Uncle Ruben and Auntie Mely and Uncle Ernie and a wonderful community of friends, who are like our family here in Winnipeg as well. I am always in awe when I see the human spirit of camaraderie and love of life lived out in the lives of people I know and encounter. It gives me hope and courage to face the hardships that life throws our way.  Lola will be in great hands. And in the center of it all is her incredible faith and hope in the promise that Jesus will one day reunite us all in heaven.  I am grateful to be a part of a family who has left me the legacy of faith in Jesus Christ. Both my own biological family and Frendell's family have given me the legacy of faith. 

Today, we will be heading home to Chicago.. full of sadness and grief, lacking sleep and rest, but overwhelmed with love and kindness and prayers from all our friends and family and most of all, from the one who has given us hope and comfort, our loving Father and Savior, Jesus Christ.  All week we have been celebrating Lolo's life and legacy and even though we have said a temporary good-bye here, we are all 'heading home' to that wonderful place called heaven. Heading home: to be with all our loved ones, when all tears will be wiped away and we will never have to say good-bye again. Sobering and challenging thoughts on a Sunday morning, as I sit here in the kitchen watching Auntie Rebing cook breakfast. Heading home... doctor's appointments, treatments, walking, PT, rest and hopefully sleep.