Missing my Grandpa

^It has been more than 3 years already, but I still miss him.

He passed away in 2008, it was my first time in Japan. When I got home, he wasn't there anymore.

A wake to welcome me back wasn't what I had in mind.

At first I couldn't believe what my relatives were telling me, I couldn't speak, I just cried.

Am not a very religious person, I didn't want to go to his funeral mass.

I was forced by my family. But I am glad they made me though. What the priest said was really nice.

It was comforting to think that my beloved Grandpa was in a happy place enjoying himself and being reunited with his loved ones who went on first. It was a much better thought compared to saying that his brain and heart has terminated its function permanently and his carbon based body is in the state of early decomposition and would soon be broken down and be part of the earth again.

Made this out of extreme sadness, apologies for the lame editing. Was still new to photoshop then.

It was my Grandpa's birthday last October 29, and a few days back, we celebrated All Soul's Day.

I miss my Grandpa so much, I just thought I'd make an entry especially for him...

My Grandpa was awesome, no, my Grandpa IS awesome.

Here's some cool things about him.

Well, first, he really dresses up when he goes out. He likes wearing polo shirts, khaki slacks, boots and aviator sun glasses when he has somewhere he needs to go to. He also puts on a very nice cologne, too to complete his look. He likes those leather pointy boots. Cool, eh? heheheh

His favorite color is orange. How many old seasoned people do you know that likes bright and not usual colors, huh? Grandpa loves orange. hehehhehehe

He is an awesome cook, his gravy and paella is just to die for. 

His physique is great for someone his age. He doesn't like doing nothing. He reads, watches anime from time to time, cleans our yard, cleans our roof, tends to the gardens and lots of other stuff don't people much younger should be doing.

He is such a neat freak, most people would clean their yards, prolly until their gates or until where their property is. My grandpa cleans our yard, the front of our gate, and even goes as far as cleaning up the the street and yards of both the houses on the left and right of ours. XD hehehehe He is well known in our street because of this.

Before, he used to pay us to take out his black hairs. He liked his nice silver head of hair and found that the stray black ones were eyesores. hehehehehe

Grandpa always waited and stayed up for me. He wouldn't go to bed until I came home, he would sit in his little nook beside the gates and wait for me, even if it means waiting till the early hours of the morning. He liked opening the gates and welcoming me back in our home. I miss this so much. =(

He was in the army before, he is a very disciplined man. He would always wake up at 5 am. Sleeping in for him meant waking up at 6:30 am. He would always wake up before us and prepare hot water for us (for our bath) in the morning and he would see us out to school every day. Another thing I miss about him.

Grandpa is an eating machine. He wasn't a picky eater. He would always eat our left overs, no matter what it was. He said food isn't something you waste.

For some reason, he doesn't like it when I call him "lolo", he is ok with it if my cousins call him that but for me, my sister and Luis, he prefers grandpa. He spoke English very well, I remember reading with him when I was little and watching American TV shows together, I guess I learned English from him.

Grandpa likes people, he likes talking to my friends when ever they come over. Funny thing is he never seems to recognize any of them, so it's like they meet for the first time all over again and he tells them the same stories. hehehehehe His classics include the time when he was young and he changed his grades from 77 to 99, thinking that 77 is too low and his father would give him a whipping, his father who did not believe he got a 99 still gave him that whipping he didn't want and said that he would have been happy with the 77 instead of that fake 99. XD His journey to school with only tubers as lunch and his eldest son who was in the army. He traveled a lot when he was young and he would share these stories, too. I miss this, too bad not all of my friends were able to hear his wonderful stories...

The funniest story I have of my grandpa was the evaporating wine incident. My mom likes collecting wine and liquor. My mom mainly stays in Japan, when she came home a few years back, she brought some of her collection with her. It was summer then, we were wondering how come the wines were decreasing rapidly. Since it was one of the hottest summer ever, we thought that maybe they were just evaporating away.

One night, I got so hooked playing Sims (yes, the sims hahhaahaha) that I was up till 3am. I thought everybody was asleep already when I heard something in the bar in the living room. I decided to check it out, the mystery of the evaporating wine was solved. Apparently Grandpa would sneak a drink when no one was looking. hehehehe He didn't know I saw him, I told my mom about it and we just decided to let it go, but it was really funny. The wine was evaporating down my Grandpa's throat! heheheeh

Ahhhhhh... writing about him has made my cry, I am a bit sad, but I am glad I was able to have a great Grandpa. I believe in all my heart that he is in a better place. He was such a great Grandpa and I miss him so much. I learned a lot of things from him. Even though he is no longer with us physically, I know that the love is still there and will never waver.

Happy belated birthday Grandpa, we miss you soooooo much. We love you. ♥