thoughts of young love

shared by Marlo R. Beall, her sister

Almost exactly a month ago, our family had the joy and honor of celebrating the wedding of our cousin Theresa, to her husband Josh. It was a simply beautiful day, filled with love, laughter, food, fun and family.

During the reception, many of us had a chance to catch up with Linh, who is good friends with Josh, and who was Cindy's boyfriend during high school and college. He is a teacher, happily married with two kids.

It was exciting to see him; and even better to hear that he and his family are doing well. It was also a little sad to see him too, since it made most of us think of times when he and Cindy were together.

Overall, it was a day all about love. I know that Cindy is smiling down on Theresa and Josh, Linh and his family, and all her loved ones, sharing in our happiness from above.

thoughts of a lovely day

shared by Marlo R. Beall, her sister

Happy 37th Birthday Cindy!

In what has become our family's tradition on Cindy's birthday, we all got together for a birthday party in her honor. Although we didn't order pizza this time, we made some "sushi bake", shared in an ice cream cake and played games.

Earlier in the day, many of us attended the Simbang Gabi (Dawn Mass) at Saint Anne's Church. At the end of mass, the choir sang Ang Pasko ay Sumapit, one of the most popular Filipino Christmas carols.

Hearing the song and attempting to sing along reminded me of the times when Cindy and I would sing our loosely translated English version of it, but still with the same melody. It never sounded quite right, but was always fun to sing.

In the afternoon, we had a chance to visit the cemetery. As we were leaving the house, I remarked to myself how it was such a nice day outside. The weather was perfect... just lovely. A couple of times during the day, I even found myself humming the Bill Withers song.

In the evening, we all got together for dinner; we even sang Happy Birthday and lit candles on Cindy's cake. Leslie was taking pictures, and happened to capture the girls with their cheeks puffed up as they blew the candles out.

Cindy was never a fan of birthday celebrants being photographed at that moment in time, so it made me laugh.

Although Cindy's birthdays are always bittersweet, they are undoubtedly filled with love, laughter, food and fun.

thoughts of clay crafting

shared by Joyce O'Shea, her cousin

Hello! For readers who may not recognize this  "blogger", I am one of Cindy's younger cousins. I am writing this a few days away from my wedding. 11 days to be exact.

Weddings can be really fun but also really REALLY stressful. Like with any other stressed out bride, I find myself complaining aloud about all the things that need to be done, people to call/e-mail, things to buy, etc. 

I lost count of the number of trips to Michael's to buy random crafting supplies. I have to admit, I like crafting even though I'm not as creative as many people. 

You know who else loves crafting... Cindy. 

I've been thinking of her a lot these days. We didn't have too many memories growing up since we lived in different countries, but I remember one specific memory. It was during one of our US trips, and we drove to visit her and Ate Marlo at UCLA.

We stayed at their apartment, and Cindy just happened to have some polymer clay. I just remember we spent the whole night with chunks of clay and a guidebook, so we could mold and bake the clay into random stuff.

Cindy mentioned that she was forbidden to use the microwave for clay because she made a real mess last time. 

Such a random memory, but I just remember how It was a quiet night, but such a fun night. I always think back to that night whenever I find myself having a quiet (crafting) moment.

[***Originally written and submitted in late September. Apologies for the belated sharing.]