Province is often traditional. People living there often stick to their customs that were passed down by their elders to generations and generations and are still practiced even now. Like when someone dies in a place, for example, a wake will be held for a week in the home of the deceased. People will visit to sympathize with the family of the deceased and will pull an all-nighter for a few nights to assist the family with what service they are needing. Some just take a visit and give donations while some people just go there because they want to play cards and gamble all night until dawn.

Even so, though it doesn't look like a place where people are properly grieving anymore for the loss of their loved one from the number of people who will gather there every night, it's still beneficial to help the family surpass the emotional crisis that they are having from the loss. Gambling is allowed but they were required to give a portion of each of their winnings to the family. In that way, it can be of help to the family to lessen their financial problem.

The good thing about the Filipino culture is our Bayanihan System, in which people are helping the one in need together voluntarily without expecting in return. It happens all the time in our place and I'm blessed to grow up seeing those kind and generous people around our place. When my grandfather was about to get buried on the settled date by the Funeral Homes, it was a bit of a hassle because our place was far from the church and cemetery. We were so thankful that the people who came to the burial volunteered to carry the coffin to the highway where the car that will transport the coffin to the church was waiting. That was almost 2 kilometers to walk, considering that those people were carrying a heavy coffin but they don't mind the pain on their shoulders just to send my grandfather to his resting place.

Today is the third day since the day of the burial. As a tradition, my family went out to the sea to wash up and swim with the waters. At first, I thought it was just to unwind from the emotional crisis they had but it is not just that. As I inquire my Aunt about it, she said that it was to wash away the bad luck, the bad emotions, and the sorrows that are left from what happened. It was more like forgetting those pain from the sudden passing of our grandfather. Thus, it was to wash away the past in the salty water and dry yourself in the heat of the sun, then come back home being ready for a new life ahead.

Aside from that, though it is already late since my daughter's birthday was last January 29, they still managed to celebrate it today also. They just bought a cake for her. They sang her the "Happy Birthday Song" and let her blow the candle. It's not a lavish celebration but at least she was so happy that her birthday was remembered. She was looking forward to it since New Year and she was even counting down the days left until her birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't celebrate her birthday on time because it was not appropriate since we had a wake for Grandpa at home.

They just let her play in the sand and just wet herself in the waves since she is just 3 years old that can't still swim. While others are making sand houses or just small mountains with the sand, my daughter was busy scooping the sand on the shore and throwing it back to the sea. She said that the waves are splashing it on the sore, so she should give it back to the sea. At last, after 2 hours of continuously doing that, she got tired and requested my Mom to lull her to sleep. It's a kind of funny and cute thoughts and deeds from a cute little kid but she had given smiles and even laughs to the whole family. At least, we can go back little by little to the normal life that we have back then.

Hello, there!!!

This was a depressing start of the year for us, but that doesn't mean that the world and the time stop for us, too. The earth doesn't stop rotating on its axis to produce a 24-hour a day. It can only mean that as the day and night go by, time wouldn't stop ticking. We should not let the time pass by in our lives that we are still being always gloomy about something. We should learn to get by this, little by little. After all, life must go on no matter what.

Thanks for reading!

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