07/09/2026
On June 24, 2026, we laid my husband’s father, Oscar, to rest. No words can describe how unexpected and painful this has been for our family. I want to say thank you to all of you who have been so supportive to us, especially our Lola. She is our OG Zumba-star.
The funeral service was absolutely beautiful. Hundreds of people from all walks of life of Oscar came to give their respects & condolences to the family. Beautiful, heart-felt speeches were made from Alina & Jhené, his precious grand babies. My husband shared a honest & storytelling speech, and I am so proud of him for sharing it in the midst of his own grief. Our cousin, Jose, who was a son to Oscar, also shared a heart-felt speech that vividly painted Oscar as the hero he was. “GG” who has known him for over 20 years, made everyone laugh in remembrance of Oscar’s ways. I also shared a speech highlighting how much he loved his immediate family, especially his grandbabies. Even Nolan, bravely stood up and shared how much Oscar would be missed. He greatly impacted ALL generations.
I wanted to make this post to say thank you to all of our Zumba community who showed support in our hardest times. There has been an outpour of prayers, generous donations, and intentional messages from lots of you. We are so grateful beyond what words can say. Many of you showed up at the funeral & provided comfort to Lola and myself. Every single one of you that showed up really helped us stay strong and feel supported in your own unique way. I know Lola felt all the love when she seen you all there. Your presence was very impactful. I , personally, was able to lean on all of you when I needed help with my outfit, bathroom breaks, moments to watch my daughter, and with words of encouragement. It was such a busy, emotional day, and you guys were my rocks that day. You all gave me the strength to keep being a rock to my loved ones. I had no idea I would need to see your faces, feel your love & support that day specifically. Memories like this are forever engraved in our hearts.
Oscar, we all call him grandpa, loved everything I was doing with our Zumba community. He would always be impressed with how many of you all would show up on a given day, even in the rain, snow or heat-wave. He would always say “ You’re doing something right.” I would share my crazy ideas with him, and he would always support it. I hoped one day he would join a class or see me in action. Im glad he got to see that I collaborated with Zumba twice, even though a 30 second interview wasn’t enough for him. He wanted to see the rest 😂. He even got to witness his wife’s health dramatically increase for the better through Zumba in the last 3 years. He witnessed her flourish & seen her fighting for her health. I wish I could of helped him too. It was all in the works. You never know when it’s your time, so please stop putting things off.
I cannot believe I pushed through a couple weeks of classes in the midst of all of this. My husband requested I still have classes, so things can feel normal. He said “Grandpa would not want you missing Zumba because of him. Go help others with their heart health, in his name.” So that’s what I did, some days were harder than others, but God gave me every ounce of strength I needed to be a light in your lives. It felt good to push through & do what I do best.
I absolutely love every single one of you. I am so grateful for every single one of you. This will make me a better person, instructor, mentor, and friend.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading. I love to write, and this is important to me: expressing my gratitude to all of you. I feel like this is way more than I deserve, so I will do my very best to be the best version of myself to help you all in whatever ways I can.
Sincerely,
Destiny Matias
