July 12, 1941 ~ September 14, 2018
Dear Mom,
I hope where-ever you are, you’re in your favorite color, red, dancing to your favorite music: reggae. May your feet be young and your heart care-free. May you be light as a feather with the weight of pure gold and sparkling diamonds on your wrists, fingers and around your neck.
Afterward, your favorite dish: fresh jasmine rice (2 x a day)and a big, juicy steak. Salted, peppered, sliced red, ripe tomatoes on the side and of course, vinegar with chopped garlic soaking in it. You always loved a cold mango, over the sink with juice running down your chin and the flesh in your teeth. I will never forget your primal enjoyment at so simple a pleasure that it never made it to a plate. When everyone ordered chocolate, you preferred vanilla.
You were always the first one to say yes to Scrabble and had absolutely no strategy. You just wanted to keep the game moving which sometimes would take several hours. Card games were your weakness and you would spend your last cent on those damn machines…you were ruthless when you would take Dad’s last five when you secretly had a Benjamin hidden behind your mother’s photo in your wallet. I can’t remember if I ratted you out or maybe, John…or Laura.
You would rather play solitaire or shop than watch baseball. I’m glad we returned to the Philippines together to visit our ancestral lands. It’s a memory I revisit when I think of a magical place. You taught me never to fear anger. And what happens when you close your broken-heart to forgiveness. You taught me which road is the higher road.
I wish you all the free will in heaven. I wish you all my love. I wish that I had loved you more.
I miss you. 
Happy, happy, happy Birthday! See you on the other side of that thin white veil ~ not ready yet, but someday.
Eternally yours, Jeanne xoxo