on a tough note.

so during this past thurs. while i was sick, my cousin text me in the morning, "did you hear what happened to uncle lyndon," and of course, i was like "nah, what happened?," and the next text truly caught me off guard, "there was a fire at grandmas. he's dead." no joke, when i first read that text i truly thought it was some horrible joke, but the silence after, really hit me with, "this is foreal." obviously, my first question was, is everyone else alright, and thank God, they were, for the most part, i'd have to say physically, but emotionally, mentally, spiritually, i could only imagine what they were/are going through. the other people i am referring to are my uncle lyndon's wife, four kids, and my grandma, since they all live together. i don't really know much of the details, since i haven't been able to attend any prayer service, but my dad told me, that my uncle Lyndon came home from work, probably started to cook something, accidentally fell asleep in the kitchen, the kitchen caught on fire, and he probably suffocated from the smoke, luckily, he had closed the kitchen door, so that the smoke and fire wouldn't spread to the living room and other rooms where everyone else were sleeping. (correction- apparently the door had been jammed, my auntie woke up, trying to get into the kitchen to help put out the fire, couldn't, and uncle told her to get the kids out of the house.)

so now the situation is, fire insurance is gonna fix the kitchen and what not in the house, and in the meantime should be relocating my auntie, grandma, and four cousins someplace to stay during repairs. this is such a devastating blow to the immediate family and the rest of us, for one, it is the loss of a loved one, two, it's just a week away from christmas, and three, about two weeks away from the new year, not a very joyous/happy way of entering either occasion or any occasion for that matter.

now just a little background, the four cousins, Cherish, RJ, TJ, and Pearl, are still pretty young, and the whole family just came from the PI in like '02/'03, the oldest is not even done with high school yet and the youngest is still in elementary, so if that tells you anything, it's just been tough. although my auntie Caring is a very strong person, it definitely has to be a handful to take care of four children, with the addition of my grandma not getting any younger, so her abilities to help out are pretty limited. the reason why i'm stating this, is because i am asking, if you could donate some money to help this family out. i know times are hard right now and everyone has to be tight with money, but please, if there is any amount you could spare to donate, it will be greatly appreciated.

just write a check out to "Lyndon Balagot Family Memorial Fund"

and mail it to

Wells Fargo Bank
30915 Courthouse Drive
Union City, CA 94587

thank you friends, family, acquaintances, and heartfelt readers, for taking the time to read this and in spreading the word. also, for those of you who will be able to donate, i thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart, for your generosity, especially during these tough times.

i love you all so much.
God bless you.
and God bless my uncle Lyndon and welcome him home.

-found on the news Oakland Father Dies Battling Blaze

In Memory of my Uncle Lyndon Obra Balagot