After realizing that the Iguanas by our new home wasn't ready yet, we drove down the street to a Happi House nearby. Happi House isn't the place you choose first, it's normally the second choice or an after thought, almost like, "Ehh, I guess I can eat it." At least for me it is. As we were eating, I got very quiet and began to reminisce.
My grandparents on my mom's side are deceased and I catch myself thinking about them often. I think about how I need to visit them, how much I miss them, and how I knew at one point, I would have to face the reality that people don't live forever. If I could choose anybody in my life to be immortal, it would be them. I miss the smell of their house, the dim kitchen light, the sugar on the counter from pan dulce, and most of all, my talks with them. I miss my grandfather's sense of humor and my grandmother's encouragement. I miss their love for animals, their love for those who live on Indian Reservations, their love for the Spanish language, and most of all, their love for God. I miss our car rides to Mark's Hot Dogs and birthday celebrations at Hometown Buffet or Sizzler. I asked God that they would live long enough to see me get married and he was gracious enough to grant me that. I also asked Him that they would live long enough to hold their great-great grandchild but for some reason I always knew that that prayer would not be answered. Maybe because we didn't plan to have kids right away and at a certain point, you realize that people's bodies eventually shut down.
Family has always been important to me. Growing up, we did everything together. I literally spent the night at their house 3x a month. I'm happy that my grandparents were as strong as a force in my life as my parents were. Now that they're gone, one thing I miss the most are family dinners. We as a family would often meet up once every couple of weeks for birthday parties, honor roll celebrations, water polo games, etc. And after every event, we would often go out to eat at Hometown Buffet, Sizzler, or Happi House. I can remember us going to Happi House often or us ordering Happi House to go. The smell of it was comforting, and though the tempura and teriyaki chicken are amazing, it tastes like the warmth you can only get from being around your family.
My Nani and Tot hated being wasteful, so much so that they would keep leftover Happi House in the refrigerator for way to long. I can remember opening the fridge and seeing the little white pieces in the salad stick out of the box, opening the box and seeing wilted salad. They loved Happi House, and they loved their salads. One time we celebrated my Nani and Tot's anniversary at Happi House, it had to have been their 65th.
It's a known science that certain sights, scents, and surroundings can trigger memories and I'm happy that I got a glimpse of what my life used to be like tonight. Sadly, when the matriarch and patriarch of a family pass on, things change. You're forced to deal with the absence of someone you expected to live forever. I guess that's what I felt tonight, though they didn't live forever, they essentially do live forever, en mi corazon.
The picture above was taken at the Happi House off of McKee Road, rest in power.
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