A Note From The Editor...
A pleasant Sunday to all of you... if you are fine and okay, then good for you. You should be able to enjoy this summer's weekend, whether you're going out to enjoy the sun or just being at home and indoors when either the conditions of either a meteorological or health concern doesn't allow otherwise. But no matter what, we are all here... and be thankful for that.
Let's get the important thing out of the way: the content that DCBLOG had planned to feature this weekend -- including Week 3 of MTV's The Challenge: USA and a blog recap of my 2021 trip to Las Vegas -- will not be posted on here either today or the next few days. Sure, I will be working on those posts on here off-air but, posting it right now would be the farthest thing from my mind considering what has been happening over the past few days... and this site's regularly scheduled programming will return here hopefully next weekend or perhaps later at the appropriate time.
Instead, this will have to do... and it involves something that represents one of those things that always take priority in family, and one of the reasons why there has not been as much busy activity on this site this year as it has been in the previous ten years. And if you can indulge in what I'm about to discuss on here, then make sure to have a box of tissues next to you. This is going to be a tough one.
My father has been with me for many of the biggest moments of both my life and in the history of our family: all of my birthdays, countless trips to Vegas, New York, the Philippines and other places, my high school graduation from Milpitas High School in 2001, when my sister got married fifteen years ago, many sporting events, and the list goes on. And it wasn't that long ago that we got to celebrate our birthday month of November when we went to Vegas back in November of last year. Sure, there have been those good times, those bad times, and those moments in between... but even with all of that, one thing didn't change of me having this kind of love for my dad.
For so many of us, these first few years of the 2020s have not been kind to all of us... and we are not alone when it comes to having our world being turned upside down during this time. When my dad felt a bit unwell and checked himself into a local hospital this past March, we found out that he had a brain tumor, which then turned into brain cancer. And to add to that, it was a rare form of it that didn't have a cure that could help him live longer... and quite obviously, we were not spared from the bad things that have happened these past thirty-one months.
Needless to say, ever since that heart-wrenching news was given to us by doctors, it has been the toughest four months in our lives... and it is also the first time that I have gone through this kind of traumatic experience that so many of you have experienced at least once in your lives. With her years of medical experience, my mom has cared for my dad each and every day of the process to try and get him back to a healthy state of mind, from daily trips to chemotherapy to spending as much time in the hospital as she could when he was there several times during this period.
Out of the interest of my own personal safety during this time -- and also because I have had to be the man of the house in keeping a close eye on my young brother and aunt, I did not get to visit my dad in the hospital. And both before and during the pandemic, I've spent most of my late nights at the desktop working on blog content such as this one here. But back late Thursday night a few days ago as I was going about my usual routine, around 1:00AM in the morning my mom had noticed something was wrong with dad and she once again called the paramedics to our house.
He was wheeled off by ambulance to the local hospital once again for what I thought was going to be a short stay there, but as I watched it from a distance it would be, as it turned out, the last time I would ever see him alive. And two days later -- yesterday on Saturday, July 23rd, he had ascended one last time into everlasting eternity with his wife of 45 years by his side. And as I was having lunch, my sister came into my room to be the first to inform me of his death, cutting short a planned trip to a buffet with my cousins after the christening of our newest addition of a few months old baby kid.
As someone who is a bit even keeled and who is actually not emotional, I am not one who will shed a tear or simply bawl out... but I do share the same sense of sadness, emptiness and everything else that comes with the process of having a loved one pass away, especially this happening this soon as he was aged 71. You can't possibly imagine what everyone else in my house and in our inner circle have been feeling the past 24+ hours as I write this post while nursing a heavy heart... and if you are reading this and have gone through this experience before -- just as so many of us have since two springs ago, then you know what that is like. But this is something we are going through for the first time in my lifetime -- and that is almost 40 years going back to when I was born an 80s baby.
Yes, this will be a new experience for me personally and for many of us in my primary and extended family, and in speaking on behalf of them we would like to ask that you send your thoughts, prayers and your positivity to us as we go through these uncharted waters in the time that's ahead. We may also ask that you be respectful in giving us our space as we go through this period of mourning, and information relating to what happens next -- from his upcoming funeral to possible fundraising efforts -- will be provided in due course on the appropriate platforms when that is released. And if you are in my inner circle, then you know that we are always a phone call or text message away... we will obviously be needing your help for as long as we can as we are going through this experience together.
And to my dad: it would be a miracle if you are reading this right now. But even though that we didn't really get in contact that much in the last months of your life out of respect for our health. But rest assured that I love you more than you ever possibly know... and although that now you are gone and I am coping with this like everyone else in our family right now, I also know that you are not suffering anymore, and that I have gained another guardian angel along with our grandparents and those who have left us who you are now join with our Heavenly Father up there. I will miss you so dearly and so badly.... and when the time comes, save a seat for me next to you, Mariano.
Your Son,
DC
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