A day when nothing went right...
I was so looking forward to beating my PB for 10k at my first competitive race.
Enthusiasm raised after being interviewed and photographed.
Then I saw the first omens...

Knee was aching.
Shorts weren't adjusted well.
Stomach cramps.
Chest pain.
A nerve from shoulder to the neck hurt, I had to hold on to my shoulder while I ran. It hurts till today.
I ended up walking quite a bit.
It felt like a long run, it was terrible.
I was feeling kind of sore about doing worse than I expected.
But the worse had yet to come.

9 missed calls and at least 4 smses...
I sensed something wrong.
I didn't have time to finish reading all.
Just the first one and I dialled for Dad.

Dad put me through to Mum.
Mum repeated the news again & we broke down.
I must have freaked Tristan out... didn't have time to wait for James.
Grabbed my bag and searched for an exit frantically.

There were barricades everywhere and I kept getting redirected by the race marshalls.
I must have looked like mad woman, running to and fro.

Getting a cab seemed impossible; there was not one in sight.
Rushed to TMC and I was the only one in the queue.
Waiting seemed forever.
Told the cabby "NUH" and he sped up as I sobbed.

My fingers weren't listening to me; was having a tough time reading the smses and pressing the right buttons.
Clara called and I pressed the cancel button instead.
Clara asked if I was coming,
Everyone had taken a last look at Granny, except me.
James kept on smsing but I refused to let him come along.
I just wanted to be with my family at that point of time.

I rushed out of the cab and everyone was sitting outside the A&E in distress.
Mum led me through the long meandering route into the room where Granny laid stiff.
"Popo"... I touched her.

3 months ago, she was sitting by Grandpa's deathbed, praying very hard for him.
Singing hymns for him at his funeral wake.

I didn't remember seeing a tear in Granny's eyes but she must have been pining for him a lot.

A 2nd fall brought her health down.
She mellowed down a lot after she was discharged; she did not want to talk much or move around.
Household issues weighed her down but she remained silent.
I could see that she was too tired and upset to have any say.

Seeing her with the walking aid pained me.
Just when she started to cheer up and regained her energy, we thought she was recovering well.

Yet she sort of knew her days were up; she kept telling my aunt that she was old and useless, she wanted to leave this world like Grandpa and she thanked everyone who helped her.

That fateful Sunday...Godma and Uncle Jerome wanted to bring her for foot reflexology because Granny enjoyed it.

However, before she could enjoy...
We lost her to coronary complications... after her heart stopped twice and CPR did not help to revive her.

Granny will always be remembered as...
A petite lady who was always chatty and full of energy.
Having a rosary in her pocket all the time, she also loves to collect rosaries.
I remember seeing her with many bagfuls of rosaries, mostly made from crystals.
Granny loved birds and kept a few, which were taken over by Bro after her fall.
She enjoyed travelling; she came back from Vietnam recently and was supposed to be off to Rome with her friends next.
She smoked Texas & Marlboro but prefers to wrap her own cigarettes.
Whenever she walked into the bedroom puffing away, we (grandchildren) would fan off the smoke and say "Popo, don't smoke in here".

Whenever I go over to Grandparents' place on Sundays, Granny would be having a lit cigarette in her mouth and shifting the bird cages.
She would smile as I greeted her at the corridor.
Shortly after I walked into the house, she would come in and asked if I had eaten.
She would keep on asking me to eat.
She always looked forward to seeing her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren on Sundays.

Grandpa, being the introvert, would either be sleeping in his room or sitting down, watching tv.
He was a man of few words who showed his love by buying groceries for the family.
He would always ask our parents to bring home some fruits or snacks which he had bought.

In the past, Bro and I had to stay over at their place whenever our parents went on a holiday trip.
Though Grandpa always appeared to be stern, he had a cheeky side too.
I remember seeing how Grandpa would rebute and tease Granny once in a while.

There was once I missed home so much I cried silently.
Granny saw and consoled me.
She was not the kind who would console you by patting your shoulder or wiping your tears.
She would go "Cry..cry for what..." and tell you there is no need to cry over it.

As we, the grandchildren, grew older, we stopped visiting them as frequently as our parents do.
Our priorities on Sunday seemed to have been taken over by our friends or so.
Attendance at Christmas, Chinese New Year and Weddings is definitely confirmed.
Ordinary Sundays.... depending on our individual schedules.

Preparations for the wake went pretty well and organised as this is our third loss within a year.
Mum, being the most emotional one in the family, broke down badly.
She could not let go.
Many of us could not...

May Grandpa, Granny and Uncle Larry seek comfort in the Lord's arms now...