death is a celebration for leaving this life
After father departed, we cleansed the body and dressed him up. While we were waiting for the dawn to come, we flipped the photos that were taken when we were young. We enjoyed the time as we laughed at each other about how we looked like when we were young. Father was actually quite slim and without the belly. During the mourning period, we didn’t actually do the mourning. My mother didn’t on the morning attire as well. All the children were playing here and there around father’s coffin. After the funeral, at the evening, we had a wonderful dinner at a chinese restaurant.
There were many relatives that were not so accustomed to the way we behaved over the last three days. I don’t blame them at all because they were not Christians yet. When the time my grandfather past away, the environment was totally different. Even though we are Christians, but we have to observed some of the Chinese traditions as well because we are Chinese at the same time.
For us, we are very glad that father departed peacefully and gracefully without any regrets. We also know that we will be seeing him again in heaven in a not every far future. The most important thing is that we are very sure that he is now with Jesus and that is something as wonderful as one can imagine. Thus, there is no mourning whatsoever is needed. Anyway, don’t get me wrong, we are saddened by the fact that father is not longer with us though he was not as good as we expected from him. We are human beings after all. The ultimate thing is father is waiting for us in heaven.