Eulogy for Papa

Hello everyone. I'm Joselle, second to the oldest daughter of papa. My memories about papa from the time I was born till I was 10 yrs old were very vivid. Actually I have a blog that I posted last year for him on Father's Day and I'm glad I had the opportunity to express myself to him when he was still alive. For some of you who weren't able to read it here are some of them:

I can say I had a blast during my childhood and part of it was because of him.

He taught me how to ride a bike. He taught me how to swim.

On New Year's Eve, he would improvise props for our fireworks (lusis and watusi) so we could enjoy them without being hurt.

He got us pets like a puppy and even sisiws.

On summer vacation and Christmas, he would take us to Tondo and we were excited to go because we get to see our cousins and our childhood friends.

One thing I'm proud of him was his singing and his playing the guitar. We were blessed to get his nice singing voice. I remember I joined a singing contest when I was in 2nd grade and I won 2nd place and I was very excited to show him my trophy and was happy that I made him proud. 

Fast forward 15 years, when I came home 2 yrs. ago, I introduced him to my husband and I asked Alan what he thought of my dad. He said he was very warm, welcoming, friendly and he had this charm that he also sees in me. I think I got that charismatic trait of him. I knew he made a lot of friends and by the way that charm was maybe what made my mom fall head over heels for him.   

When I went home for my wedding on 2011, who would have thought that that would be the last time I would see him. He asked me if he could walk me down the aisle and I didn't hesitate to say yes cos I was really waiting for him to reach out and feel a father's love and know how it is like to have him once again. We even had the opportunity to bond and spend time when we went shopping for his wedding suit and shoes. 

After we got back here in Georgia, I'm so happy he kept in touch with us through Facebook. He would message me on every special occasion and he never failed to like my every posts. Sometimes I would be surprised to know that I got numerous notifications all coming from him. 

It breaks my heart and it saddens me that he surprisingly died young and that we weren't able to provide him with a happy old age. I hope I could have given him grandchildren, I wish I could have said I love you more to him. I have my wonderful plans in my mind for our family but God said to trust in his plan and not ours.  We may not understand today but I believe it will all makes sense in the future. 

To end this, I would like to thank God for bringing me into this world through you. Papa, wherever you are, thank you for all the good memories as well as the trials we've been through that made us who we are right now. 

Papa, I'm so sorry too that we couldn't be there right now but you are always in my thoughts and in my prayers. I will miss you so much. We know that you are now in a beautiful place where there are no broken hearts, no pain, no suffering but only joy, love and peace in the company of God and the angels . Perhaps you will be watching over us and hopefully we will continue to make you proud. May you intercede for us and guide us as always. 

To all of our family and friends, thank you to all of you for your sympathy, understanding, love, care and support for our family. 

God bless you all.

xoxo,
Joselle