Early on, I was already showing the grandchildren how to make rituals for certain happenings in their lives. When Rafa was 4, he mourned the death of his pet turtle and retreated to his bedroom in solitary self-confinement.
When someone told Dr. Joven Cuanang that I had held my own wake, he said, tongue-in-cheek, as usual, “Tell her if she decides to ascend, I will supply the crane and the choir. I’m serious.”