My Final Goodbye

Today I said good bye to the only grandfather I ever knew. I touched his hands and kissed his forehead for the very last time in my life. I did not want to pull myself away from his side. I stood by my mom and held her as she cried. It was so hard for me to say goodbye. It broke my heart to see my mom say goodbye.

Today I mourned. Today my family mourned, but more importantly, we celebrated. We celebrated our family. After his service we went to my cousins house to eat as a family. Let me just tell you, I forgot how big of a family I have. I would say that about 3/4 of my family came to eat dinner. By family I mean aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, nieces, nephews and all of their spouses. To say that it was a packed house would be an understatement.

Today was an experience. I met so many family members that I had no idea I had. After awhile I found that it was easier to introduce myself as one of Aida's daughters than by my name alone. Dinner was amazing. My cousin pulled out a box of pictures and we sat around looking at them and laughing at our ridiculous haircuts, our super 80's clothes and just simply reminiscing.

We had a lot of laughs, but the sadness was still there. There was one seat empty. My memory of family gatherings will always be of my grandfather and his brother, my great uncle Luis, sitting side by side.

Today I said farewell to the only man I ever called grandfather, mi abuelito, mi apa. I will never forget him. The last few things my grandfather ever told me was that we were lucky to be such rich people, for being blessed with such a large family. I will never, ever forget that.

Family gatherings will never be the same now that my grandfather is gone, but they will always remind me of him and how rich we really are.