An eulogy for Popo

My maternal grandma passed away on Vesak Day. She was hit with pneunomia on 30 April, and 4 days later, her kidneys started to fail. The toxic in her body then spread to the main parts of the body, such that the heart and brain were not functioning properly.

She was an uneducated woman born in Indonesia, who came to Singapore with her sister to find work as a maidservant. According to my mum, at that time, the maidservant at that time will have to keep working for the family till she was physically unable to (even till old age), but the family she was working for had a heart and allowed her to go so that she could lead a life of her own. She was then introduced to my grandfather through a mei2 po2, they went out for a while and got married.

My grandfather wasn't exactly the best husband - well, he married another wife. But my grandmother didn't get angry with him for doing that, but instead continued to work for him and the children without any complaints.

I remembered her as an active woman who liked food and travel. She was our travelling partner on our trips to Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia and Thailand in the 80s-90s. She enjoyed exploring new places, and I daresay was even more adventurous than my mum and auntie!

I remembered too of her taking care of me when I was younger. The countless stay-overs at her place when my parents went on a weekend getaway without the kids, single-handedly taking care of me and my 2 younger cousins at my aunt's place when my mum and her siblings (and spouses) went on a long holiday (and that's not easy!), buying me things as I point, ... And oh! She made really mean ba zhang and pineapple tarts! No matter how hard her children tried, it could never reach her standard.

But all these came to a halt when she had a stroke about 10 years ago, which left her paralysed from waist down, her speech slurred and basically getting gradually weaker. It really pained me to see her in that state, knowing she could not doing the things she loved and was good at.

Though we kinda anticipated her demise, till now I've still yet to come to terms with it, that she has left us. Gatherings during CNY will be different now. Am just hoping that reunions at my uncle's place won't decrease in frequency after this. But still, we know that her memory will always live in us. The amount of tears shed for her gives prove of how much she has impacted our lives as a friend, a mother, a grandmother.

I really regretted not doing a few things before she passed on: for not visiting her often enough at the home/hospital, for not taking the effort in hearing what she wanted to say during the time she was bedridden, and, most of all, for not sharing God's Word with her.

She has reached the end of her life story, and we know that this story will continue to live in our hearts.

Goodbye, Popo... We'll miss you...