Half a Lifetime Ago

Before April 15 meant the sleepless chase for a tax filing deadline, it was a much deeper blow half a lifetime ago. In the chill of the night, we got a news that my father suffered a heart attack and is being rushed to the hospital. I ended up being left out being the youngest child. The news that followed was a life changer and now I know that the of the saddest thing that could happen to you is for people close to you to go away without saying goodbye. The blow came swift and unexpected, my father passed away at a young age of 46 years old. I guess that's one of the reasons I get the impulse of trying to fix things and chase goals as fast as I can since I always had the thought that anything can happen in an instant and what if by the time the right time comes it would be too late already.

"Death comes on the nth hour.

It's inevitable and unavoidable,

But Death is not an end,

It's a new beginning... a new journey."

My 16 year old self wrote those phrases on my father's obituary. The new journey was also for me as well as I have to lived with what have been imparted to me by then and from a hindsight perspective he did do well as a father. His strict ways thought me that I should have a sense of responsibility on my own actions. He thought me to appreciate what we have even though it wasn't much but it was never lacking. He lived his life as a protective person, a good friend and a carefree person who did enjoyed each moment. He needed just 16 years to mold me to be the person that I am now and modesty aside, I would want to believe he did raise a good person.

I could have wished you stayed around longer (I did have countless dreams along the years that you were still around) but I guess I just would live in the comfort that you were able to turnover as much as you can to me and now half a lifetime after, I can say the half a lifetime you were around will come a long way in my lifetime.

I was able to revisit this events as we visited my father's grave yesterday and decided to write a mini-tribute to his half a lifetime with me and I hope that next half a lifetime or quarter of a lifetime later, I'd also be able to look back on good memories I have imparted to the world.

Excess Inkblogs: I'm still mystified how lolo and lola death anniversary was on a year that ended in 8, my father, my uncles and my aunt death anniversary was on a year that ended in 4. Does that mean, I should be careful when the year ends with a 2? Do the Math!!!