i can live, with or without you
it was a sad yet uplifting ceremony. 9 of his closest set out on a small boat to the outskirts of singapore.
one of us held a bundle of immaculately white roses. one of us held his remains on her lap.
the weather cleared in time for his burial. he wanted to roam free in the air and sea. so we decided to scatter (as a promise to him) his ashes in the sea. his wife was too scattered there.
as the choppy waters rose, we stood on a tiny deck singing the first line of nearer my God to thee before slowly fading out because we simply and conveniently forgot the words.
hosea was a good song to sing considering we all knew the words.
then slowly, each of us picked a handful of him, threw it out and watch it sink into the green waters.
then we threw a rose each, as if to say farewell.
when i looked behind, i saw a sea of white rose petals on the surface, the most beautiful.
we said our final goodbyes to uncle tom and headed back to shore.
his final resting place.
then off to the granny's place for a long overdue family lunch where the most amazing thing happened to my dad.
he offered to pay for uncle tom's funeral. so he would sign the cheque infront of us and pass it to my mom.
he wrote everything ok till it got to the signature where he just simply couldn't sign
6 times. 6 cheques. till now nothing.
he said there was a force against him. funny?
besides that we all gathered as a family. long overdue.
what uncle tom broke apart, he mended back as a family.
he would be so proud.
then off to merlynns and meet desmond
your dog is massive merlynn.
we ate at brewrks. amazing food.
we didn't drink.
we went to the japanese supermarket without buying a single japanese item.
we bought all other stuff.
weird.
had a great talk with them at tcc.
its amazing to have such great friends who
u never really knew u had.
classic moment: to avoid desmond from colliding with on coming waiter, merlynn sticks out her hand and shouts: "come!"
yes i know, i am blessed.
so are u uncle tom.
