Fire and Water

I'd like to thank those of you who offered your condolences. Your kind words mean a lot, and I truly am grateful to have friends like you in my life. The weekend has left me emotionally drained; I am still exhausted despite the nine hours of sleep I had last night, and want nothing more than to climb back into bed. But yet I chug along, praying for enough energy to get me through the day. My eyes were all red yesterday (I suspect due to sleeping with my contacts on during the flight back) that M thought I had pink eye. They weren't itchy so I wasn't as concerned, but I acquiesced when he told me to wear glasses instead of contacts. They look fine today, so I can affirm that I do not have pink eye.

We had the viewing for my grandmother on Friday. It was limited to just family members, but there were still about 25 of us who filled the room. In front of the casket was a long table filled with my grandmother's favorite foods. An urn was placed in the middle of the table for burning incense. The Buddhist monk performed whatever ritual was common for such an occasion, chanting non-descriptive phrases in what I can only assume was Mandarin. At one point in time, he had us all follow him in a line to walk around the room while he continued chanting. After circling the confined space for the fourth or fifth time, we looked over and realized that a little fire had started where the incense was burning. I still don't know how it happened, but we were able to quickly get it extinguished.

My grandmother's interment was on Saturday. The ceremony was over and we were up at the burial site by late afternoon watching the lowering of the casket into the ground. Off to the side were some of my uncles burning paper "money" and other "valuables" when all of a sudden, the sprinklers went off. Not only that, but it was only limited to the area where my grandmother's grave was. It would have been comical if the affair had not been so somber. I mean, seriously! Aren't these things timed? Don't they usually go off in the mornings or even in the middle of the night? It took a while for the workers to turn the system off, but they eventually did.

One of my cousins said that the fire and sprinkler incidents were signs from my grandmother, assuring us it was okay to leave. That's one way to look at it... or they could all have just been a mere coincidence. But I don't think there are such things as mere coincidences. To me, things always happen for a reason. I tend to believe they were more signs from God; I just don't exactly know what they mean.