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Honoring My Parents' Wedding Anniversary with Kendra Rinaldi
30 Plays2 days ago
Welcome to a solo episode where I discuss a very personal topic: honoring and celebrating my parents' wedding anniversary (October 29th) even though my mom died nine years ago and my dad has since remarried.
I share the fascinating, intercultural love story of how my Italian-American father, who was traveling in South America, met my Colombian mother. This date is where our family started, and I feel strongly about continuing to honor that legacy.
I also share the bittersweet memories attached to this time of year. This period holds the anniversary of their wedding, but also the anniversary of my mom's passing in November. I reflect on the magical and miraculous way my mother followed a hunch to travel to Orlando right before she died, which ensured all of us siblings were able to be present when she took her last breath.
It’s okay to honor these complex dates and allow the emotions—the grief, the joy, and the immense gratitude—to come through.
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel inspired, please subscribe to my newsletter via the website, or check out my subscription content on Apple Podcast for additional bonus episodes. If you have a story to share, email me at griefgratitudeodcast@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Grief, Gratitude, and the Gray in Between'
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Grief, Gratitude, and the Gray in Between podcast. I'm your host, Kendra Rinaldi. This is a space to explore the full spectrum of grief, from the kind that comes with death to the kind that shows up in life's many transitions. Through stories and conversations, we remind each other that we're not alone.
00:00:27
Speaker
Your journey matters, and here we're figuring it out together. Let's dive right in to today's episode.
Remembering October 29th: A Personal Significance
00:00:39
Speaker
Hello. Today will be a solo episode and I'm actually uploading it on the same day I am recording. That's my plan.
A Tale of Two Cultures: Kendra's Parents' Marriage
00:00:50
Speaker
Today is October 29th, 2025. And 52 years ago today, my parent got married and um i want to talk about honoring and still celebrating their anniversary, even though my mom has died.
00:01:14
Speaker
It's been nine years. And my dad is remarried. He's been remarried for six years now. Yet I still find it important to honor and remember dates like their anniversary, their wedding anniversary.
00:01:40
Speaker
So interesting because even though i was not born, of course, yet when they got married. Not of course. I mean, there's people that get married after they have kids. But ah I just always remember every anniversary that my parents would have and the little gifts that my dad would give and vice versa.
Cultural Roots and Faith: Kendra's Father's Journey
00:02:12
Speaker
Some of the things, my dad would almost always give my mom like useful gifts. It's cute. Like I think one time he gifted her like this table for her sewing machine.
00:02:25
Speaker
At least that's one of the things I remember. My parents were two different cultures, right? My dad's from the States and my mom is from Colombia.
00:02:38
Speaker
And gosh,
00:02:46
Speaker
That's so interesting. I'm not sure why why I'm feeling emotions right now as I'm recording this.
00:02:56
Speaker
So I wanted to share a little bit about how they met and little bit about their story because their story ends up being part of mine and my sibling's story as well.
00:03:16
Speaker
So if my dad listens to this episode, he'll probably correct me on some facts that maybe I may not have completely right. So we will see. So my dad was born and raised in California.
A Love Story Across Continents
00:03:33
Speaker
with an Italian American father, actually Italian. Like my grandfather was born in the U S but his parents were Italian and he grew up his first seven years of life in Italy and then came back to the U S and He married my grandmother.
00:03:55
Speaker
So my grandfather's name was Joe Rinaldi and my grandmother Alice and Alice Workett, Joe Rinaldi and Alice Workett. and my And they had two kids, my dad, who's the oldest, and four years later, my aunt Zerine.
00:04:14
Speaker
And my dad grew up in ah household that was Catholic, mainly, usually ah he says mainly during the holidays, during Christmas is I think when they would go to the Catholic church that was on my grandfather's side and then Presbyterian on my grandmother's side.
00:04:36
Speaker
And in his twenties, late twenties, my dad ended up becoming a Baha'i and he was in theater, he was an actor. And anyway, he had found that as his his religion, quote unquote, and then he still felt he needed more, something else and ended up finding the Baha'i faith.
00:04:55
Speaker
So the long story to this is is still, I will say long story short, but it's still the long story to this is he ended up going to South America in 1971.
00:05:07
Speaker
one there was the inauguration of a house of worship in Panama and he went down to that. And that's how my dad ended up in South America. From there, he went to Peru. So when he was in Peru, there was a youth conference in Colombia and he went to that and met my mom.
00:05:25
Speaker
And that's, yeah, that's how they, that's how they met. My dad went back to Peru and they would correspond with letters like it was back in the day. And, um,
00:05:38
Speaker
he ended up asking her to marry him over a letter. And then um he then moved to South America, ah to sorry, to Colombia, to Cali.
00:05:50
Speaker
And when he was there, he ended up getting hepatitis B. And ended up having to be like you know and like in a garage, like isolated. and he My dad ended up recording this song, several songs during that period of time, but one was called The Artichoke.
00:06:14
Speaker
One my dad's famous songs. People that know my dad know that song. And, uh, anyhow, he, so that was like his, his, uh, welcome to Kali as he's about to marry my mom is that he had hepatitis B. I'm not sure how many months or however, before he married my mom that happened, but that happened.
00:06:38
Speaker
Anyway, my parents then got married on October 29th, uh, 1973 and ah nineteen seventy three And they um they were they had a civil wedding and a Baha'i wedding.
00:06:53
Speaker
My mom was a Baha'i as well but since she was a kid. and um my grandparents my And my my dad didn't have any ah members of his family there because they were in the States. And back then it was just not as easy to travel.
First Impressions in America: Meeting the Grandparents
00:07:09
Speaker
So I can imagine...
00:07:14
Speaker
I can imagine, and I actually should ask my dad this. So dad, if you're listening, curious how it felt for you to be marrying someone and not having your family members there.
00:07:31
Speaker
I, ah I don't know how that must have felt, ah starting his new life. So that's what happened on that year. And then a year later, my dad and my mom traveled to the US. s And then that's when my mom got to meet my grandfather and my grandmother, might grandparents weren't married at that time. They were divorced and my grandfather was ill and they um they got to meet them.
00:08:01
Speaker
And my grandfather passed away just, I think, yeah, 1974, I believe he's when he passed away because I was born in 1975 and he died a year before I was born.
00:08:13
Speaker
So that was how my parents got married. And that is how these two Human beings of very different cultures and backgrounds came to form a family.
Final Days and Family Unity
00:08:31
Speaker
And that was 52 years ago. air And
00:08:42
Speaker
this year, in just about a week, on November 7th, will be nine years since my mom died. And during this time, nine years ago, my mom wanted to go to Orlando. My parents lived in Atlanta and my sister lived in Orlando.
00:09:05
Speaker
We lived in Texas and my brother lived in Colombia at that time. My mom was already with hospice care. We started, i believe we started hospice care early October and she was already in oxygen and had ah nurse coming in every day to check in on her.
00:09:24
Speaker
And when, and during this time, October 27th is my niece's birthday, but my daughter my my sister's middle daughter.
00:09:35
Speaker
And my mom felled called let's say that way, called to go to Orlando to be there for Layla's birthday, and which was so odd to me. It was so odd to me because she had so much pain. like she My mom could not even...
00:10:01
Speaker
be like in a car ride long, like long enough, like without the pain. She was in so much pain. She had already stopped chemo and the pain was just excruciating.
00:10:13
Speaker
But yet she really wanted to go to Orlando and take that flight. So she got on plane for two and a half hours or two hours. I think it is two hours from Atlanta to Orlando to be there.
00:10:27
Speaker
And she was able to be there for the, for the birthday and for the anniversary.
00:10:35
Speaker
i don't know if they, I'm trying to think, what did they, did they do? I'm
00:10:45
Speaker
I don't, I'm so, it's so odd. Like I'm like trying to remember. I'm not sure if my parents ended up doing like a little three day trip or something. um during that time, because I recall seeing some pictures. like They might've even taken like a little trip, but I'm not sure if it was during during this. i't and I don't think it was during their anniversary.
00:11:06
Speaker
Anyhow. So then two days later, so they went there for the 27th, then two days later, their anniversary. And then my mom's health just declined, like plummeted, like very quickly while she was in Orlando.
00:11:21
Speaker
So all her hospice care, it had already been transferred to Orlando. And
00:11:28
Speaker
Fortunately, they were able to like do something there with the, like the hospice in Atlanta was able to find a contract with a hospice in, in Orlando. And they were able to come to an agreement because my mom's health insurance was actually only for the state of Georgia.
00:11:46
Speaker
Anyhow, they they managed to do that. And my mom had oxygen and some care while she was there. And again, her health just plummeted.
00:11:59
Speaker
And i believe it was like November second or so, November 2nd.
00:12:08
Speaker
that my sister called and said that the nurse had said that her health was really deteriorating, that it would be best that we would go.
Reflecting on Legacy and Loss
00:12:20
Speaker
And so all of us ended up traveling there. I we i think we arrived on like the 3rd or something like that, number November 3rd or 4th, something to that extent.
00:12:32
Speaker
And then my brother also traveled from Colombia and two of my mom's best friends also traveled from South America to be in Orlando with her.
00:12:43
Speaker
And then on November 7th is when my mom took her last breath. We were all able to be there with her at the time of death.
00:12:56
Speaker
I say this because, and I might've shared this in other, it well, you this story is shared also in the episode that I did with my brother, but It is so magical to me,
00:13:11
Speaker
really like magical and miraculous that she followed this hunch, this pull to want to go to Orlando.
00:13:25
Speaker
And because of that, because of that, we were all able to be present when she passed away. And not ah we're not sure if that could have really happened in that same way had she died in their home in Atlanta, just because ah they did not have...
00:13:40
Speaker
They there were actually, they had already been packing and it was, it was not, we would have not all been able to sleep in their home. So while in my sister's case, in my sister's home, we were able to all be there. So therefore we were by her, she died almost at midnight. So it's just, it was just so beautifully like orchestrated is all I could say is that she followed this pull, this hunch of wanting to go there.
00:14:09
Speaker
for her granddaughter's birthday. Yet at the same time, it was probably her soul just calling her to where she was going to be laid to rest.
00:14:20
Speaker
And so my mom is buried in Orlando and it it is just... honestly such a blessing for us that that is where she, that that is where she died.
Honoring Anniversaries and Emotions
00:14:38
Speaker
So again, shared a little bit here about it being their anniversary, their wedding anniversary this time. Then also all these bittersweet memories come to the surface of then also her passing, but there's just also just, you know, there's grief, there's joy. There's so much gratitude, so much gratitude, so much gratitude for the choices my parents made along the way. Like so much gratitude for my dad having moved to South America, meeting my mom.
00:15:16
Speaker
And because if not, my siblings and I wouldn't be here, you know, our lives would have been very different. So, but well, I don't know. We would have not existed, first of all, if my parents had not met, at least not in who we are right now.
00:15:36
Speaker
So i Again, I honor that today they got married, today our family started, and we continue that legacy now with our own families and our own lives.
00:15:50
Speaker
And I just wanted to share that with you, my audience, and the audience of this podcast, and and just let you know that it's okay to honor these dates and And it's okay to allow the emotions to come through if they do.
00:16:13
Speaker
There's years in which I don't necessarily end up having this much of an emotion or connection to their anniversary. But today happened to be one of those days in which I did.
00:16:26
Speaker
And I felt called to share that with you, the audience, because maybe this message might this might resonate with you as well.
Engaging with the Audience: Subscriptions and Stories
00:16:36
Speaker
So that's what I wanted to share today. And before I end, I also want to just invite you to subscribe to my newsletter.
00:16:46
Speaker
Just go to the website and grief, gratitude and the gray in between, and then just go and subscribe to the newsletter. i send a message every couple of weeks.
00:16:57
Speaker
I send a little letter and I also send the the episodes, are the most recent episodes as well. And I also want to invite you that if by chance you feel called to want to subscribe on on my Apple podcast, if you're listening to this anywhere else, this is not available there. It's only available on Apple podcast.
00:17:20
Speaker
I have a subscription base part in my Apple podcast account that you could subscribe to and then listen to additional episodes that I do.
00:17:31
Speaker
Those are just bonus episodes that you get to hear So those are the two invitations. Anyway, sending you all so much love. And if you'd like to share any thoughts or any of your own grief journeys, please write an email to griefgratitudepodcast at gmail.com and share your story with me.
00:17:52
Speaker
Thank you. Much love.
00:17:57
Speaker
Thank you again so much for choosing to listen today. I hope that you can take away a few nuggets from today's episode that can bring you comfort in your times of grief.
00:18:11
Speaker
If so, it would mean so much to me if you would rate and comment on this episode. And if you feel inspired in some way to share it with someone who may need to hear this, please do so.
00:18:26
Speaker
Also, if you or someone you know has a story of grief and gratitude that should be shared so that others can be inspired as well, please reach out to me.
00:18:39
Speaker
And thanks once again for tuning in to Grief, Gratitude, and the Gray In Between podcast. Have a beautiful day.