Foo
I was glad that I made time to meet up with him with few other ex-colleagues when he came back to Kuala Lumpur recently. This time round, he shared so much with us, on how he moved to New Zealand, the little hardship he faces initially and how it had all paid off. And he was still the same good old jovial Foo.
Rest in peace Foo. May God Bless your Soul. My deepest condolences to your family. They are blessed with a good husband and a good father.
Dad
This news of death brings back memories of all the deaths that had happened recently since my Dad who passed away in December 2013.
(Dad. In his 20s)
My Dad was 85 years old. He was having all the usual old age sickness. By the time, he passed on, he was just lying in bed, unable to walk. All of us - my mom, my sisters, and nieces were all helping in feeding and cleaning him. His mind was still alert and that was the most painful. Knowing that he now can’t walk and move about like he used to makes him irritated sometimes. Especially when he had to depend on others for every little things. Hence, at his age, maybe it was a blessing that he passed on finally.
I don’t have regrets of my Dad passing on as we children had all taken care of him well during his living days. Travel, good food, celebrations at home with family, with his favorite - his grandkids. And Dad enjoys it all.
He had traveled many times to China, his favorite destination. Most importantly he had visited his father’s birthplace - Eng Choon or better known as Yong Chun in Fujian.
My most vivid memory of Dad was I standing beside him at his mahjong table in the village coffee shop. I must be just about aged 6 or 7 years old. I will always looked at the amount of chips he had and if there’s a lot of chips I will whisper to Dad for money to buy sweets. And he will always happily gave to me when he is winning.
Dad, rest in peace. I am happy that we, children had done what we should do – taking care of you at your old age.
Wherever you are, may you have already had a good rebirth.
We love you Dad. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu.
Cousin Brother - Kim Kui
2 months after my Dad passed away, my cousin sister’s husband, Kim Kui passed away too. He was in his 60s. He was all healthy till he had a sudden mild heart attack where he discovered he had a clogged artery in his heart. Doing a simple operation saved him – a laser blast to unblocked his clogged artery. But somehow after a week or two, he relapsed and he passed away. His too, was most unexpected. My memory of him was when he was a young man in his 20s. He was then pursuing my cousin sister. We as kids were in the advantage as he took care of us well since he was chasing after my cousin sister. He too was a nice jovial guy. My cousin sister, Ah Lian was blessed as he loves her till the end. May God Bless Him. May he Rest In Peace. Sadhu Sadhu Sadhu.
Kow Khim
My memories of my Kow Khim are of her always asking me to eat. My parents worked very hard to feed us. Hence, Mom was too busy to cook. As such I would go to my maternal Grandfather’s house after school for my lunch. In those days, it was a Chinese custom to have few sons living in the same house, despite being married and with kids. Hence, my Grandfather’s house had four of his sons living there with their wives and children. And my memory is always this nice aunty hovering around us kids, making sure that we kids eat.
I was glad that I visited Kow Khim with my mom on a Sunday, just a week before the Moon Cake Festival. Every year I would buy her a box of moon cake. I remember she was her courteous self, always wanting to serve us tea. Always asking if we had our meals. It’s a traditional Chinese custom to always ask, ‘Have you eaten?’ whenever a guest comes to the house. I think it was due to the fact that China in those olden days was very poor. Hence, the polite way of always asking ‘Have you eaten?’
My last memory of Kow Khim was she sitting on a high stool, cooking noodles for his eldest son that Sunday. She was very happy, telling us that his son is coming back to eat. She reconfirms the fact that parents will also be parents no matter how old their children has grown.
Rest in Peace Kow Khim. You have left behind a great legacy of sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, all loving you. You would already have a good rebirth for all your kind-heartedness. Sadhu, Sadhu, Sadhu.
TO ALL
With all these recent deaths, it just meant that:
Life is short. Life is too Short.
We should not take life for granted.
We should not think that we would always have tomorrow.
Wherever possible, make time for your loved ones.
Especially your Parents.
Understandable that we all have to make a living.
But if our Parents can be there anytime for us when we were young.
Can we not at least be there for them, if not every day but at least once a week?
And if children are living far away, call and talk to them at least once a week.
Lastly, say a Prayer of THANK YOU every morning for having another Beautiful Day. God Bless Us All.
There's death everywhere. Somehow I felt that people felt the lost of their loved ones more when it's a sudden death. But when a person suffered a sickness and needs their love ones to take care of them. Eventually the caring, the patience will takes it's toll and the death becomes a welcoming next stage. And somehow they won't feel the lost of this loved ones so much. I felt my brother death so much because it was a sudden car accident death. But when it comes to my father, we welcome his death as he suffered from cancer for 2 full years. There were so much pain for him and all of us siblings were taking turns to look after him. There were check-ups, hospital stays, special diet meals, and towards the end of his life, taking turns to bathe him, pampers to change, it's endless. Though we cry but somehow the feeling of grieve was different from the feeling of the sudden death of my brother. Somehow we didn't feel the lost so much. We should treasure our health.
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