Grandpa’s gone.

The date was 26 Oct when I woke up to a text from Uncle that Grandpa has passed on.

There were other texts but I thought it was a false alarm until he called me and broke the news to me. That’s when I knew sht just got real. I had to break the news to Mum and L of which Mum immediately dropped her things and went to the hospital. Me and L followed after shortly. When we got there, Grandpa was just lying motionless on the bed with grandma sobbing right beside him. Uncles were there too except for my aunt who was on a work trip.

Grandma was in a state of grieve but she started going home to pack all grandpa’s clothes to bring to the wake. She insisted no make up for his corpse and also for the coffin to be fully opaque with no window to view the body. Apparently, when people opt to have the window in the coffin, the organs of the corpse have to be removed so grandma did not want that. Atlas, 30mins after we left the hospital, the wake has already been set up at the voiddeck and they gathered everyone at 4pm for the coffin closure ceremony. We got dressed accordingly and spent the next five days there for the wake.

Ngl I saw quite a few familiar faces throughout the wake and was pleasantly surprised. Both of my uncle’s ex wives came by and we managed to chat a little. I got to know my cousins a little more during this period of time which was great.

Ah, the highlight was applying for compassionate leave for S to visit the wake. I honestly didn’t know there was such a thing but I did write to him immediately when we found out that Grandpa has passed on. He gave me the instructions and the prison team came in clutch and he managed to drop by the wake for 30mins and pay his last respects to Grandpa as well as chat with my relatives. They haven’t seen him for nearly 3 years? Yeah, they chatted with him for a bit and even Grandma got to speak to him which was pretty nice. Everyone was very supportive and looking forward to his release. Ngl when I saw the van arrive, wow my tears just fell. Honestly, I’m relieved S got a chance to see Grandpa one last time but I did not realise how much the rest of the family actually misses him too. We joked around a bit since he will be coming out next year and when they asked when, I just told Ah Yi, “It’s right after your birthday!!”. Just like that, 30 minutes flew by and it was time to go. They escorted him back to the van and he’s gone. We will be visiting him next week so we shall see how it goes.

Even though I hate the fact that my parents were parents at a young age, I do appreciate the fact that it gave me more time to interact with my grandparents. Because my parents were always working, our grandparents played a very significant role in all our childhood. When I was younger, Grandpa was responsible for fetching me from school during my primary school days, I can vaguely remember sitting at the back of his bike as he cycled us home. Funnily enough, Grandpa was the one who taught me how ride a bicycle and even how to play badminton. When things got tough at home, our grandparent’s place was the first place we escaped to when we needed a place to hide. I will forever be grateful for the role Grandpa played taking care of us and if anything, he played a fatherly figure in our lives for sure.

This has been a long time coming though, Grandpa has been hospitalised a couple of times due to stroke and his condition has been deteriorating over the years. Nevertheless, he did live a good life and I hope that if given another chance, I would still want to be your grand daughter. Thank you for everything. Rest in peace, I’ll miss you ah gong.