I TOTALLY FORGOT (“DEATH ANNIVERSARIES”)
I’m not accustomed to the concept of “Death Anniversaries.” It wasn’t something my family did as I was growing up.
I’m aware of other Lutherans and Hungarians honoring “Death Anniversaries”, but I never saw my Mom or Dad light a candle or say a prayer on the anniversary of a loved one.
Marrying into a Catholic Filipino family, it’s very common for us to pray for the soul of another. We attend wakes and funerals (or we did in the “before times”; pre-pandemic and pre-cancer), and we attend “death anniversaries.”
So as Vicky remembers her family today… I’m reminded that I completely forgot that February 8th was the passing of my grandfather.
I know I fall short of his ideals. It’s hard to do the right thing and to remain steady with a strong moral compass. Social media isn’t exactly kind to ethical systems, and we live in a society that places self before others. I also know these are excuses, as he would tell me and remind me, and that we are all ultimately responsible for our own actions and our own consequences.
You are loved and you are remembered.
May I see you again someday.