Know The Passing

The moment a person reaches the age of 75 -- their loved ones and family take them to the grave site where they shall be laid to rest for all of eternity.

Seventy-five.

She sits comfortably upon the grassy felt of her everlasting bed in a beautifully pure white dress. Surrounded by those important to her: her sisters and brothers, her son along with his wife-in-law and their children.

They all smile at her and she at them. For three days, she will endure no eating and in turn the weakening of her body as all of her organs devour each other as a source of food.

It's a happy event. An event ridden of sadness and melancholy. Why?

Knowing and expecting the death of a loved one, for there will be no shock of death like a sudden cancerous tumor or a highway accident. This is where they will spend all their time and attention on her.

Laughter and reminiscents fade away into night. The living prepare to leave for home and freshen up for the next day of celebration.

"Don't go just yet, okay? Make it all the way. I want to see you tommorrow, Nana." One of her grandchildren spoke to her, hugging tightly.

"You betcha I will, kiddo." She pat him on the head.

Car doors shutting, ignitions starting. She watches them leave tranquilly. The absence of sun could not hinder her white glow. "It was time," she thought to herself as she relived the time of her husband's death.

They were all happy, not a single tear was shed for him because of those three special days. "He made it too.. and so will I," she confidently proclaimed of herself surrounded by hundreds of decomposed bodies who've even done so.

The family came back the next day to find her white gown stained with blood, her body lied there lifeless. The grandchildren surmount to tears, hugging their granny without any fear of the sight of crimson red. The adults stood there in shock.

It was something that she didn't want to happen because it would mean turmoil and years of mourning for them. She didn't make it the three days.

She had not died in peace, she had died because of something out of their control -- that was why tears were shed.

And there sat a casket unburied, while others were six feet under. It was against customary traditions to bury someone who had not served their three days. It was to show the unprecedented pain that this person's passing has caused.