Will do this entry in two parts... here's the first one...

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I’m actually helping out my mom right now in some preparations for my dad’s 40th day rites. I figured since I’m printing out a lot of stuff, I might as well to chronicle about what happened when my dad died, and about what happened during my dad’s funeral. I know that some of my family from abroad may be reading this --- so for those of you who aren’t familiar with thanatological practices in the Philippines, most Catholic Filipinos celebrate the 40th day after the passing of a loved one in the form of an offering of a mass, and a gathering of close relatives and friends. The 40th day is believed to be the time when the soul moves on to the afterlife (pretty much commemorating the 40 days Christ spent on Earth prior to Pentecost / the Christ’s ascension into heaven).

Dad’s 40th day is on the 22nd, and what mom has planned is a mass at our parish church, followed by a “simple” dinner. Well, I wouldn’t even say that it’s a simple dinner --- it’s pretty much a full-planned 3-course controlled buffet… hehehe!

I was pretty surprised that mom has a lot planned for the 22nd. Although after some thought, I wasn’t really as blown away. For my mom, nothing really is too simple. She’s elaborate and thorough about things, and I’m pretty sure she wanted to help everyone celebrate my dad’s life by doing something grand and special.

I promised my relatives on my dad’s side that I’d be posting pictures and updates through the web. It took me quite a while before I could actually site down and type down my thoughts. Ever since I came back from bereavement leave last May 24, it’s been non-stop following-up on the things I missed out during the two weeks I was pre-occupied with my dad’s funeral and interment. Well, now is as good a time as any :o)

I was actually there when my dad’s heartbeat began to slow down pretty much to a halt.
Everyone pretty much knows that my dad had lapsed into a coma due to a stroke when he was undergoing a dialysis on the 11th of May. We were all pretty much by dad’s bedside since then during that weekend, but I remember that Teddy had to go home to take care of some prior commitments that we had for our family business, and my mom and sister had to go home already since they needed to rest and take care of themselves first at home.

I remember that it was around 545am when dad began show signs of movement. His body moved-up as if he was pulling in a lungful of breath, and then went down suddenly. After that, his chest and arms showed signs a shadowy web that crawled across his extremities. I know something was wrong, and I called the doctors and nurses to take a look. I was told by my dad’s attending physician in the ICU that his heart rate was slowing down very rapidly, and that it wouldn’t be long until the inevitable.

I gave mom a call, and told her that she needed to go to the hospital as soon as she could since dad’s heart was beginning to slow down. My mom arrived around 730am, and was given the same briefing that I got from our attending physician. At around 945am, dad was already declared clinically dead, and he was removed from respirator support.

Everything pretty much moved fast after then. Dad was brought to the Holy Trinity Memorial Chapel near our village in Paranaque for preparations, mom picked out a casket and a room, and after an hour or so Dad was ready for viewing.

When the people from the administrative office of the funeral chapel told us that dad was ready to be checked before being brought to his room, me, Tin-tin and my Tita Menchie (my mom’s sister, who was the first relative of ours to know about what happened to dad and was first to lend us support) knew that it would be hard to mom to do alone, so we all accompanied her downstairs to take a look at how dad looked like.

They did a great job. In fact, dad looked like he was just sleeping peacefully in his coffin. He looked like he was at peace with himself. He was wearing a piña barong (which is pretty much the best kind of barong there is) with a beige undershirt, and dark brown pants. Although I know that dad’s more of a suit person (and me my mom had a short debate a few days before on what dad would wear if what happened would come to pass), he looked snappy in his barong --- I’m pretty sure he would like his look too if he were in my place.

The next 6 days would pass by like clock-work. For most of day, we would be entertaining guests. At night, we would have a daily novena and a mass on behalf of dad. People came in droves at night. It was a big ruckus from around 630pm to around 10pm since people would come in droves. Not a big surprise though since dad’s been always a very lovable and sociable person during his time.

(to be continued...)

I learned of twittering from a podcast I downloaded a few months ago from Yahoo!Podcasts, and it seemed really interesting. It's kind of like blogging, but it's runs more on real-time updates rather than wordy journal-like entries like this.

Since I'm here in my partner's house (we're actually celebrating his birthday --- Happy B'day Jerome! Ehehehe!), and everyone's busy watching DVDs, I decided to go online to give twittering a try. It's fascinating since you can send updates on what you're doing and what you're feeling at any particular time.

Honestly, I don't really think that this will ever take the place of blogs though. Twitter's can only accomodate only so many characters per post, so you can't really elaborate on your thoughts too much. Besides, it's expensive !!! If you really want to send blurt outs through your phone (via SMS), you have to send it through a foreign number... haaaaaaaaaaaay!

Anyway... it seems like a good way of letting people know what you're feeling. It's an intimate way of sharing goings-on in your life to your real friends. It's worth trying too coz I don't really get to update my blog too much nowadays --- especially with the massive ramp that my team is going through.

Will post some pics and stories about my dad's passing hopefully by this week. I'll post some pictures too through Yahoo!Pics.

Lamina et Sagitta, Dennis

p.s. Thanks for everyone who attended the wake. I really appreciate the prayers and the support you've lent through my family's most trying time. I'm sure that Dad is smiling and praying for everyone from heaven.

i'll be posting details about my dad's passing soon. I suppose this will suffice for the moment. This is a message I have been sending friends since the middle of the week.

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Hi friends!

In case you want to pay your last respects to my dad or to visit my family, my dad is currently interred in Holy Trinity Memorial Chapels and Crematorium at Dr. A. Santos Avenue (Sucat Road) in Sucat, Paranaque. We're currently occupying the ground floor suite.

To get to Holy Trinity, all you have to do is take the South Super Highway, and exit through via the Sucat ramp. From there, take a right to Dr. A. Santos Ave/Sucat Road. Drive along the road until you see a Shell Station station and a 7-11 branch beside each other on the right side of the road (right before Jaka Plaza). Holy Trinity should be fronting these establishment on the right side of the road (although you would need to ride further along the road to take a u-turn).

Final rites and burial will be held on Sunday, May 20. There will be an 830am mass, then we will be proceeding to Manila Memorial Park for final rites.

If you need to contact me for details, my number is 09175850517.

Thanks for all the support and prayers my friends. I really do appreciate it.

Yours,
Dennis

The pic: Kris, Gio, Rupher, Roy (at the back), Jonas, me, Janssen, and Sonny (For everyone --- I'll be uploading pix from both the PS party and my barkada's party as soon as I can)

Yes, it's that time of the year again. Once a year, there's always that weekend when your social life seems to be going on overdrive, and everyone just decides to have Christmas parties pretty much all in one day!

December 16 was one heck of a day... the PS year-ender and my barkada's Christmas party all in one night!

Jerome and I actually went to the PS party first. The theme of the party was "fashion fusion", so everyone pretty much glammed up for the event. It was fun preparing for the party since it's been a while since I've actually gone on party mode... ehehehe!

A white polo, jeans, fab white shoes, and crystal and procelain beads. I actually pulled it off. It was the look I've planned for quite a while, and I have to say that a lot of people liked it. It wasn't the usual me, which the the fun part since I got to feel like the way I did when I was back in college.

When we got to the venue, I was really impressed. Since we pre-registered for the party, getting in was a breeze. There were photo ops with models too... ehehehe (and I have to say that they were sooooo hot!). Pupil and Spongecola was there. It was kinda sad though that I wasn't able to stay for Spongecola and PS Idol since Jerome and I had to leave early so that I could join my barkada in Ortigas.

Now my barkada's Christmas party was an event in planning for around two months (something you never really hear when you talk about friends having parties... ehehehe!). Arjae and the guys were able to reserve a function room in a resto along Metrowalk from around 8pm to 2am.

When I came in, the guys gave me the warmest greeting. I've missed them so much since we never really get to see each other as often as we used to. Most of us have been friends for more than 4 years (some of us, like my Bes Joms, Roy, and Migs, have been friends for around 5 years), and things keep on getting better. It's wonderful to see everyone growing up and living their fabulous lives. As one of my friends, Paul, put it, "it's never really about the quantity of time we spend together, it's all about the quality of friendships we share".

It was a great night. Christmas is truly a great time to spend with friends and loved ones. I'm really blessed to have a great team and to work in a great company. I'm also equally blessed to have great friends around me too.

Love you guys!

Lamina et Sagitta, Dennis