So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom -Psalm 90:12

Edwin's dad passed away last Sunday. There's mourning of course. It was unexpected, a heart attack. If you are Edwin and your wedding is in 2 weeks, how would you feel?

The barong Tagalog (a Filipino formal wear) that his dad's supposed to wear on Edwin's wedding day is the same one he is wearing while lying peacefully in his coffin. A few weeks ago, Edwin jokingly said "Papa will stand out in this barong. It even is better than the one I'll be wearing on my own wedding day!"

I was there on the 3rd night then on the 5th. While sharing stories, me and other friends worked on "kim" - a brown paper folded like a boat with a stamped name of the person who just died. It's a Chinese tradition to have boxes of kim burned. They believe that the more kims burned, the more money there will be in the next life. The name is stamped and serves as a seal to indicate who should receive it - in this case, Edwin's dad.

Edwin is one of those who do not believe in most of the Chinese traditions and customs. But just so as not to offend his dad's relatives and to avoid more arguments with them, he opted following some of these traditions.

On the day that I learned about the death of his dad, I literally didn't know how I'd be able to at least comfort him and Julie, his fiancee. Both are my close friends. Good thing Ciel and Anthony were there. They did what I couldn't.

My father passed away 5 years ago. I spent a whole week locked in my room crying. It took quite a long time before I eventually got used to not having him around. And once in a while, when I remember something about him, I of course miss him terribly. So I know, no amount of comfort and encouraging words can lighten up the feeling of one who has just lost one of those he dearly loves.

I understand that birth and death are normal events every one has to go through. And life is indeed too short. First day of school, graduation, wedding, a birth of a child, death of parents, growing old... then life ends. Don't you wish you were able to do more the past years, or perhaps yesterday? Don't you regret not having loved more and given more?

Live today as if it were your last..

We plowed through ten inches of snow into the cemetery, got about fifty yards from my dad's grave, with the wind blowing about twenty-five miles per hour, and the six of us lugged that casket down to the gravesite... We watched the body lowered into the grave and we turned to leave. I felt something was undone, so I said, "I'd like for us to have a prayer." The six of us huddled together and I prayed, "Lord, this is such a cold, lonely place..." And then I got too choked up to pray anymore. I kept battling to get my composure, and finally I just whispered, "But I thank you, for we know that to be absent from the body is to be safe in your warm arms." -Bob