Memories of grandpa

"Sometimes, you will never know the true value of a moment until it becomes a memory."

When I saw the quote for this month's Quote Challenge at Berry Sweet Scraps, one photo immediately came to mind.

Elements from: So Perfect kit by Delph Designs, Mask by Laurie Made Me

This was taken on New Year's Eve of 2006. My husband and I, recently married, just arrived in Manila after spending Christmas with his family. We spend New Year's Eve every year at my grandparents' house and we had this photo taken with Lolo (i.e. grandfather) then. I didn't know it at the time but this would be the last holiday we will spend with him, and the last photo I will ever have with him. He died 2 months after this photo was taken.

I still feel sad when I remember him. I still miss him a lot. One evening, about a month ago, Andrea and were looking at my layouts on my laptop like we usually do. Andrea likes looking at her photos. I have a few layouts with my grandparents' photos in them. When we saw one with Lolo's photo in it, she said, 

"That's Lolo! Mommy loves him!"

"Yes, sweetie. That is Lolo, and we love him."

Andrea was born a few years after he died, but she knows who he is from the photos I show her. She looked at the photo quietly for a few seconds and then in a soft voice, added,

"He loves you too mommy."

Silence. I didn't know what to say. Andrea looked at the photo quietly for a few more seconds and then as if some trance was broken, started clicking the arrow on my keyboard to navigate to the other photos with her usual cheerful chatter.