These are all from today:
At about 9:30 am EST, I finished reading the diary of Anne Frank, which ends with horrific abruptness, while in a car passing Brooklyn en route to Roslyn, to my Barkada – my paternal Filipino family. Today was our double funeral for my Lolo and Lola, who died of COVID within months of each other, early in this pandemic before it was safe to have any in-person services.
I have not seen so many of these precious faces since before the first waves of this pandemic – my Barkada. We’ve lost so much and waited so long to begin to regain each other.
Sitting there seething at the end of Anne Frank, on my way to our long-awaited double-funeral, to finally see my Barkada again, to honor two of the hugest personalities I will ever know, gazing out a car window at The City and Nature and People…how do you think I felt?
(Do not underestimate the importance of a girl’s feelings. If you dismiss a girl when she writes about her feelings, on this planet of Anne Frank, Frida Kahlo, Malala Yousafzai, and so many more…you ought to know better.)
On a final note – happy Earth Day!
