Since I was a baby, Setapak Garden was the place my brother and I would spend many days at because my grandparents used to stay there. My brother and I would have our tuition class there, our grandparents would bring us to KFC and the Ong Tai Kim there – and the neighbourhood playground was our kingdom.
For my brother and I, we would see our popo and kung everyday – and being with them was part of our normal daily routine. Kung Kung had the important responsibility of fetching us home from school, and my grandmother held the equally important responsibility of making sure we were well fed. And like so many of the other eulogies can attest to, any family or friends of popo were EXTREMELY well fed. She enjoyed making different dishes for us for our lunch and dinner – and occasionally she treated us to fried chicken and snacks for tea time.
It was a job she loved and one that she took very seriously.
But more than just feeding us, she was our constant companion. She would teach us weird Cantonese songs. We would watch TVB dramas together, and our afterschool pastime was going out for shopping trips to Sungai Wang and Alpha Angle together.
She was there with us in our everydays.
So how do I say goodbye to someone who had been a constant presence in my life?
I start by thanking God for her. She was someone who loves her family immensely, who was always eager to chat and spend time with us. She liked having a jolly time and she enjoyed big gatherings and a good laugh. She had a really sharp and quick wit – she liked a good banter with others, and enjoyed gently poking fun at people. She was too much of an expert at mahjong – always beating the rest of us younger ones at the game. She was a social butterfly, who could strike up a conversation with a complete stranger and chat with them like they were a long time friend. And it helped that she was a polyglot and can speak English, Cantonese, Hokkien – even Tamil.
She was by no means perfect. She had deep flaws and weaknesses, just like anyone else. She was a sinner. But I thank God that eventually she put her trust in Jesus as her Lord and saviour and that she found her peace in him.
It's hard to accept that this companion of mine for 28 years has now bid goodbye. Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different? Setapak Garden seems a lot different now. The roads have changed, more apartments and shops have sprung up, and my grandparent’s house seems to have fallen quiet. I used to feel slightly annoyed when I get calls from popo in the middle of the workday. But now I won’t ever see her phone number flash on my phone screen again.
Our days here on earth are very short, they are numbered – and it helps give us a sense of how short our lives can be in comparison to eternity. I grieve for my popo, and I naturally wish that mortality and death hadn’t taken her. But in my heart of hearts, I can be joyful because for her, there is much hope even in death. Even though she has closed this chapter for this life, her next chapter begins – an eternal life with Jesus who has loved and saved her.
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