I'm not too sure what to make of this past weekend. It was hectic as on Friday after work I picked up my nieces who wanted to stay the night with us. The girls are great and we had fun hanging out with them on Friday night. Saturday brought Jake's karate class followed by his cousin's soccer game and then lunch with the in-laws. My brother-in-law brought his "friend" along again and now we're all wondering if there's more to them than what meets the eye. Wifey and I hope so as we want to see him happy.
After lunch we drove to my parents house as Sunday was my mom's birthday. When we got there, mom and dad were in the middle of prepping why my aunt and uncle were there to eat the crab my mom brought home from her quick trip to Alaska (more on this later in this blog entry). The following day, mom had all of her church friends over for lunch and chatter. It was fun seeing everyone as we don't get to see them much, but I had forgotten how such a noisy bunch they can all be.
We left for home as afternoon became evening and as night fell, so did the festive nature of the weekend. I had caught some kind of bug which has kept me under the weather since Sunday (tonight is Tuesday night) so I'm a bit out of it. But here is the clincher...
My cousin Jenny passed away this past Sunday from complications from pancreatic cancer. He was just 51 years old. Mom went to visit him the weekend before, to surprise him and hopefully lift his spirits. For those of you who don't know about pancreatic cancer, doctors say that if you had to choose a cancer to have, pancreatic would probably the last on that list it's so deadly. Anyway, my cousin Jenny (he's a boy...yeah...my aunt for all of her wisdom decided to name her first born son Jennifer) was a remarkable man. He was humble, witty, he loved to laugh, but most of all...the one thing I remember most about him was that he was all about family and his kids. Whenever we'd go home to the Philippines to visit, he would be there to pick us up or drive us to where we needed to go, no questions asked. He was the first to help out at a party and quickly became the life of it. I was happy to hear news that his family had finally had the chance to migrate to a better life here in the US. I'm happy that the last time I saw him in person in 2004 he was still the vivacious, caring man he always was, because the pictures I saw of him on Sunday at my mom's party of when she went there to visit him were that of the shell of the man I once knew and held so much regard for. I'm happy that my mom went to visit him before he passed because years ago they had a small falling out and this trip allowed them to opportunity to make amends and say I love you. He knew his time was near and to have that kind of opportunity is priceless.
Anyway, God in his infinite wisdom found it time to call him home. Sunday night I shed tears for the man when I heard the news. I already miss him. I'm glad I got the chance to introduce him to my wife and my son and from what brief time they had shared I hope they had a small glimpse of the man I knew and loved. In my heart I know he's in a better place getting it ready for all of us who are still here. That's the kind of man he was. He is survived by his wife, two sons, two daughters, a daughter-in-law and a granddaughter.
My thougths and prayers go out to them and the rest of his family.
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