my father’s passing

Last week, before my father went unconscious, I had a few final words with him. I told him that he need not to worry about anything anymore, because we can definitely take care of ourselves and I told him to never wait for us. And he did that a week later.

During the wake, one of my father’s closest friend asked - why are there so few of his friends showing up? Did I contact them about my father’s passing or advertise any obituary in the local newspaper?

I replied him - my father wanted his funeral to be simple and does not want his friends to feel mourn for his passing. The friend nodded. I also told him, my father’s closest friends were all already there for him - when he was down and ill.

But he didn’t tell me how he wanted his funeral to be done. He only told me about a late friend of his - how he had admired him for having everything done so modestly. So, based on his remarks and desire for a modest wake, I arranged for him to have a simple and modest funeral. The way how a real Buddhist would.

But I am glad that he finally left his diseased body for good, and suffered no more. It was our fate to be father and son, and it has been a pleasure to meet him in this life. If there is indeed such thing as afterlife, I definitely would want to meet him again and shake this man’s hand, and then greet him - “Hi again… old friend” and then we’d sit down together to have a really long chat.