flowers in the attic

Monday, June 28, 2010

overwhelming. that might aptly describe what has happened these past few days - a funeral, family politics, reconciliation, and drama.

barely two days after i returned from Aussie land did we receive news that my uncle had undergone surgery and had less than 24 hours left to live. my mom, sis and i rushed down, but not fast enough it seems. when we were just 5 minutes away from the hospital, we got an sms that my uncle has passed away. we went to the hospital still to see his corpse.

i guess it will always be my regret that i didn't get to see my uncle for the last time, despite the fact that we have never been that close or that the last time i saw him was years ago. his is a rather complicated story; he leaves behind three grown sons, one ex-wife, one indonesian-malay wife who can speak neither English nor Chinese, and one 8-year-old daughter. my heart goes out to my young cousin - she is adorable, sweet and really clever for an 8-year-old.

so the past few days have been spent accompanying my mom to the wake and helping out in whatever way i can, talking to and bringing books for my young cousin to read. my uncle doesn't want to be cremated - he wants to be buried; so today we were at choa chu kang's cemetery seeing to his burial, complete with taoist priests, loud clanging cymbals and men with tattoes.

this definitely wasn't how i thought i would be spending my days after my grad trip (i haven't had much time to start on my job-search yet!), but i think it has more or less turned out well. we reconciled with a loved one after nearly 3 years, and even though things are still tense between several of my other relatives; i just hope that things will all turn out okay. hopefully i'm not being naive, and i surely hope this won't be the last i see of my cousins.

R.I.P, 舅舅. i will definitely do what i can to help the 8-year-old daughter you left behind.

❤ enhui, 12:49 AM 0 comments