Photo edited through Canva

I live in the mountains so we do have a different kind of green here. Going to the lowlands, I see fields of rice, corn and other flora that I don't see in the highlands. A couple of days ago, me, my mom and sister traveled in the lowlands 2 hours away from home to visit family friends.

Agoo, La Union

Death comes in ways we don't imagine. It is unexpected that. It prove to you once again that life can be taken from you anytime.

The purpose of our visit was a sombre one. The uncle of my friend died of stroke and other complications. He was diagnosed with diabetes but he did not took action until it was too late. His liver failed him which led to his demise. I only met uncle a few times and even spent one night at their home. We grieve for our dead ones by doing the wake most of the time in our homes. This could take long because we have to wait for family members to come home from far and near to pay their last respects. Sometimes wakes could take weeks and even a month.

My friend's uncle's wake was held in church for a few nights and then moved to his home. It is here that they will wait for his wife to come home from abroad.

Although this visit was on a sad note, the fact that we have not seen them in quite a long time, the excitement of seeing them again overshadowed the grief.

This particular friend of mine had been my buddy way back in high school. They have moved homes several times and I have spent some weekends in all of them. Even when he and his siblings were studying here in the city, I have also been in all of the apartments that they have lived in. My bond with this friend of mine brought our families together. Also, my sister and his sister were batchmates as well.

After college and working in the city for a few years, my friend and his siblings had the opportunity to work abroad. Since then, we don't see each other often. His family and mine live 12 hours apart. When he or his siblings come home from abroad, we don't have the chance to always see each other. Sometimes, if they have business here in our city that is the only time that we get to meet again. It will always be a brief meeting, however.

The roots of his mom and dad are both from La Union. So their clan is mostly living in La Union including his dead uncle. What made his family migrate to another place was because of his mom's work. My friend and one of his sibling few back home to spend time with their uncle for the last time. I did not know that they were coming home and when he informed that he did, we decided to pay them a visit.

My mom and his mom especially have not seen each other for years. Our visit turned out to be a reunion. I find it ironic that we don't find time to see each other often. It is only during death that family, relatives and friends that we have not seen in years will bring us together. What's more, because we have not seem them for a long time, we share memories and had a good laugh about those fun moments and times. Such is the case with our visit. We spent more time laughing about snippets in our lives in the past, stories that we remember and stories that we have not shared yet.

It was also my first time to meet most of his aunts. One of them is so funny that she got us laughing so hard. I thought my friend is funny but her aunt is funnier.

I can't help but notice there are lots of plants around the house. There is even an ilang-ilang tree that got us guessing that it is. I know it is an ilang-ilang and I said that it was but because of how the others were guessing it I started to doubt myself. Until one of the neighbors confirmed it was ilang-ilang did we stopped guessing it. All of a sudden everyone claimed that they said it was ilang-ilang lol! The flowers did not give off that familiar scent so I have to go pick one and shared that around for them to smell.

I forgot to take a photo of that tree. I really intended not to take a lot of photos during our visit. All the photos here in this post were the only ones that I took using a smartphone. I was so drawn in to the greens of different hue and the sound of birds and insects and the rustling of leaves. It is so peaceful and calm. The andidits (cicadas) made the most noise. Clouds would roll by in the afternoon which darkens the surroundings and it would make the andidits burst into a natural incessant choir. They were loud but it was a beautiful sound I welcome.

On a serious note, me and my friend had a lot of catching up to do and we spent what time we have to do so. We talked about our family and our work, more of his work though. When we were talking, it brought back memories where we would spend nights where we would be talking hours and hours not minding the time. Sometimes we would find ourselves still telling stories until the early hours of the next day.

As much as we want to stay longer, me, my mom and my sister had to say our goodbyes. I even wanted to visit one of her aunts in their home but it is a long ways a way from where we were and a quick visit is just a waste of time.

The burial of his uncle is on Friday. It was decided at first that by Sunday he will be brought to where his parents were laid to rest but then his wife cannot make it on time so it was finally decided to bury him on Friday and by then his wife will have arrived.

My friend can't attend the burial because his flight will be on Thursday. He will be coming for a quick visit here in the city and at also will be taking his bus to the airport from here.

Upon arriving at the bus terminal that day I had to go check for available bus schedules. We have to coordinate and plan his schedule so he can catch his flight on time.

By coming up to the city, we can spend some time with our friends here.

I wanted to take a photo of the sunset while we are on our way back home but there is no good opportunity. Here is a few-second clip:

Take time to spend moments with friends and family. You don't know what you are missing until it's gone.

Forgive, love and laugh.

I was supposed to make a compilation of ulog of some sort but this particular one is enough for now.

I am using this divider provided by @surpassinggoogle here in this post about @ulog.

What is @ulog? Read it HERE.

THIS IS A REMINDER TO BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR ACCOUNTS AND KEYS HERE IN STEEMIT. There are criminals, hackers and abusers all around.

Check out these articles:

This One Here Is For You @Sami100: "You Can Steal My Money But You Can't Take Away My Happiness!" || Be Careful Steemians And Protect Your Private Keys!!! by @surfermarly

PLEASE DON'T be the NEXT VICTIM of a PHISHING SCAM !! by @lynncoyle1
⚠⚠ WARNING FRIENDS ⚠⚠ by @johndoer123
Protect your ASS by @omitaylor
Scammers started disinformation from @arcange

Thanks to quochuy for these steps on how to protect yourself from phishing.

Protect your money against Phishing Scam!

Cryptos accounts are the target of international scammers because they want your hard earned money!

Those people are very clever and in a moment of inattention, you've given them your login and password!

I've created a Chrome extension that can help you detecting scam links!

Install Steemed Phish Chrome desktop browser extension now!

Password and Private Keys security

You all know that your Steem password is the access to all your STEEM, SBD, posting, transferring, everything... right?
So, please, follow these simple steps and keep yourself safe:

1. Apart from the initial setup of your account, NEVER use your password ANYWHERE, if stolen, it will give full control to your Steem account.
2. Backup your password and keep it somewhere safe. Use a password manager like Lastpass, print it on paper and put it in a safe (no kidding). If you forget your password, no one can help you out.
3. To login for creating content and curating, use your Private Posting Key
4. To make transfers and account operations, use your Private Active Key
5. To encrypt and decrypt memos, use your Private Memo Key
   
   

   This post was made from https://ulogs.org