Today is Christmas day, December 25th, 2025, and I just realized that I hadn’t made my blog entry for the day. I spent Christmas day with my brother-in-law Jack, my friend Diane and my husband Bill. Bill cooked a magnificent Christmas dinner. We had prime rib, baked potatoes, green beans and asparagus. Bill thought we had sour cream, but unfortunately, we didn’t have any, so we had to make do with butter. It wasn’t the greatest tragedy in the world.
2025 is almost over. I won’t shed a tear saying goodbye to 2025. It had been a difficult year for me. I lost my godfather this year. He was also my uncle. I remember I felt an urgency to go to Florida to see him while I still could. I felt like it was the time to go and that I needed to make it happen right away. Unfortunately, I made a big mistake with my flight. I remember I was driving home from work, as I was talking to Bill, he said there wasn’t a flight leaving from Buffalo to Orlando at 6:05am, but that there was one leaving for Fort Lauderdale at that time. I really messed up. I do fly to Fort Lauderdale occasionally to go to the Florida Nature and Culture Center in Weston. I go there for Buddhist conferences, and I have been regularly attending for many years. Somehow, even though I had intended to fly to Orlando, I booked my flight for Fort Lauderdale. It was a mistake that would cost me both emotionally and financially. As soon as I got home, I tried to change my flight. The thing that sucked was that no flights were available any longer leaving on Friday morning. I would have to fly on Saturday. My mom, dad, sister and I planned to visit my uncle on Friday. Now I had to make a change in plans. My mom told me that my sister had already taken time off from work. My family would still go ahead and visit my uncle Friday and then my dad would take me to see him the next day.
My flight from Buffalo to Orlando went well. My dad picked me up and we drove towards my parents’ house. My dad said that he had something to tell me, but that it would have to wait until we got home. When we arrived, my mom said I have something to tell you. “Your uncle passed away at 5am this morning.” I burst into tears. I had tried so hard to visit my uncle before he passed and I just didn’t make it in time. I felt so upset, frustrated and cheated.
However, on that same trip, I was able to visit another family member who is facing health challenges, and it made me very happy. I was able to tell them that I loved them and that I am chanting for them, and they said, “thank you.” That little exchange brought me a lot of joy.
I will be making a couple of trips to Orlando this winter. One on my own and another trip with my husband Bill. My sister is visiting from Germany in the beginning of February, so I will fly there to spend some time with her and the rest of my family. She will be flying on her own and will be staying for a few days. Later on in the month, I will fly back for my youngest sister’s birthday. Bill will accompany me on that trip. I am very much looking forward to both trips. They will but short, sweet and I will make the most of my time there. I also hope to connect with other family members as well.
I have been trying to reconnect with my Latino roots. My extended family has become more important to me. Although, when I was a girl, I didn’t think of them as my extended family. They were just my family. I remember playing with my uncles, and my cousins when I was little. We played hide and seek together. My youngest uncle is only 5 years older than me. He could easily be my brother. I remember I really looked up to him when I was small. He was just a kid himself and probably found his little niece annoying. I do have lots of fun memories of my childhood. I am grateful to have spent those years around my grandpa, grandma, aunts, uncles and cousins. I fondly remember my grandparents saying, “bendicion” and giving me a kiss. At that time, I didn’t know that “bendicion” meant blessing. As a little girl, I just knew that it was always how my grandparents would say goodbye to me.