Rest In Peace, Ah Ma Batnar
Ah-Ma as in ‘grandmother’, Batnar as in a
place’s name – where she’s from.
Ah-Ma Batnar aka my paternal grandmother
passed away on 19th Aug, Wednesday, aged 95.
That day, I was busy preparing for the
8.30am badminton tournament in UUM that I missed my mom’s call at 6.30am. The boys who are long-time tournament participants advised us to switch off our phone to avoid distraction. I
didn’t read any messages until after I finished my miserable first single game.
After losing the first single game, I
finally had the time to look at my phone and the first thing that came to my
mind after I saw the message dad sent was:”Yikes~ What about the next game?”
At that moment, I wasn’t feeling sad or
anything, instead, I felt troubled that I might not be able to play on the next game
which was on Friday.
After settling everything, I went back home
that night.
I still wasn’t feeling sad or anything even
when I saw her in the coffin, but Wee Shirlyn creep the heck out of us though.
When I carried her up to let her see her
great grandmother, she said (while looking at Ah-Ma in the coffin):”Ah-joh (as in great grandma in Hokkien) sleeps,
shhhhhh be quiet…. She’s not waking up already, she
went to see papa...”
Woah I did not expect that from a 3 year
old especially she wasn’t even born yet when her father passed away.
Tino said, that night before, she said
things like:”Ah-joh sleeps forever liao” and kept staring at this empty room
during the prayer session the night before. Creepy~~~
The funeral went smoothly.
Ah-Ma, you have come to the final chapter
of your life and you can finally close your book of life.
***** ***** ***** *****
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| CNY 2008 I think... Those days when she was still healthy and strong and chubby |
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| 2010 CNY reunion dinner |
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| Great grandmother vs Great granddaughter |
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