In Loving Memory

This picture was taken 15 years ago in Genting. It was a last minute trip on the weekends.

My late father was a disciplinarian and a very strict man but also was goofy and funny. A man with few words and we used to be very scared of him. I remembered when we were little, he will chase us with hangers if we were naughty and rebellious but of course he never hit us. I vividly remembered he bought us money banks and taught us to save money everyday. He was the one who gave me a notebook and encouraged me to keep a diary, which I still do until today. 

He is a man who has touched the life and hearts of many

I remembered how we kissed him before he went off to work. He always like to ask us to "cabut bulu", pluck his facial hairs and its something we used to dread. I remembered how my sister, Caroline did facial and put mask on his face, just like in the salon.  

The best memory I had of my late father was our bedtime story sessions. It is always something my siblings and I looked forward to every night. When we were little, all of us slept in one room and every night, he will tell us a bedtime story, always with some advertisements in between.

When I was a teenager, I used to resent my father's veto power over what or where we should go in the weekends or on holidays. We will always spend the weekends in our landeh garden house (now our main house which I loved dearly and missed so much when I'm away). I felt like I was missing out on a lot of things other teenagers do like hanging out at the mall, going out at nights and of course, dating. 

My late dad was not really a "feeling, emotional" kind of father where we can talk about our feelings, boys or anything like that. That's my mum's forte. 

I remembered vividly how proud my parents was when they sent me off to UM, their alma mater. A place where they met and fall in love. In my second year of degree, he fell sick and passed away a year later. On my graduation day, I wish he was there with me, looking at me with pride when I receive my scroll. I wish he's still here now to scare away all the pricks and jerks who broke my heart. I wish he is still here to walk me down the aisle and gave me away when I get married one day. I wish he is still here so I can treat him with my first pay. 

Ever since he passed away, my most vivid dream of him was last year where in that dream, my sister and I hugged him and he told us 

"Don't worry. I'm watching over you."

I woke up sobbing and couldn't stop.

Today is exactly the 8th year he left us to be with God. We love him but God loved him more and he is in a better place. He is always with us, in our thoughts and prayers as long as we are still breathing.