Stella's Life Celebration
Friday, we chartered a beautiful vintage sailboat and sent off mom in style! Her ashes were placed into a flower basket and we gently lowered her into the sea. We shouted "WE LOVE YOU MOM" Petals and flower followed. It was beautiful, she would have loved it.
Thank you so much for capturing this special memory for us:
Videography: Cotton Love Studios
Photography: Eileen Liu Photography
Saturday, we followed up with a BBQ celebration for her life! 8/18/08 (she loved those 8's!) It was much bigger than we had originally anticipated and things didn't go as planned haha.
We had wanted it to be on Baby Beach in Dana Point. Baby beach is a location filled with fun and activities to do for people of all ages! We wanted to show people the fun place to fish for sardines, to catch crabs, the aquarium/sea learning center and all the fun activities we used to do as children there! Maybe even paddle board, or kayak around the protected harbor if they wanted to!
HOWEVER... my sister got there at 8am... and ALL THE SPOTS were already taken! It was crazy crowded, and we didn't account for that. Our bad. T_T We were told people started staking out before 6am! So crazy! We ended up in a spot much MUCH further down, with no grill and only two tables. #panic Our friends saved the day by bringing a grill and extra tables! Without all the activities of a beach, we ran around trying our best to talk to everyone, encourage them to visit the beach area, in hopes everyone was having a good time.
It totally didn't go as planned... but we did our best and were really happy to see familiar faces from all stages of our life!
My vacation family
I wanted to remember everyone who came, and the easiest way was to snap a quick selfie! (don't mind the ultra duplicates of my face)
Pretty proud of putting this collage together last minute the night before. haha :D
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Throughout this whole rollercoaster. I'm so thankful for everyone's prayers. They are working! I've been surprised at my own strength and endurance that has been gifted to me during this time.
I cried 4 times. The sadness hits me at completely random times, usually completely unexpected:
The first time was at the crematory. I got to see mom for the last time and boy did the floodgates open. My dad and sister held me as I was wailing like a baby, I was crying so much my contacts popped out, and I was struggling to pop them back in.
The 2nd time was when my mother-in-law called me. I don't even know why, but suddenly I realized I still have a mom, who also loves and cares about me, and I felt really emotional and thankful for my sweet mother-in-law.
The 3rd time was in the middle of the night at 2am the night after we scattered her ashes. I had the sudden realization my mom was really gone forever. I thought about the last time I saw her, and how she hugged me and touched my face and said she wasn't sure how much longer she would be around. Gary was already asleep, and I just started sobbing into his chest. He woke up and was like "huh? what? are you okay?" He held me, wiped away my tears and comforted me until I fell asleep. I'm really thankful for my husband.
The 4th time was when I found my mom's "zhu-bo" (jewels) She likes to draw a really detailed photo of each one on the box so she could identify them easily. I don't know why, but seeing it made the waterworks come. She was so meticulous in the way she cared for and organized them. Just like she was really meticulous in the way she cared for us. Mom always told us we were her two most precious "zhu-bo"
Don't worry about your two "zhu-bo" mom. We will be okay :) We love you.
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