Oh my goodness. A lot can happen in a weekend. In exactly two days (okay I didn't count, I just noticed the days changed). I was looking forward to write about a lot of things here with what I saw and heard but I think I'll just say it all here.
14th October. Friday night, the eve of my Mum's convocation where she's officially a PhD graduate and just hours (minutes?) away from Saturday which would be my Godpa's birthday, 52 years old. Plans have been made. Saturday night we'll all have a big dinner, for the double celebration. Seems like it was just last year that we celebrated his 50th birthday really grandly, dinner and dance and drinks. Time passes by too fast. Sometimes it's to your advantage. Most of the time, not.
We're all in the living room, talking. Which I felt was a rare sight. The TV was off, so rare at a time like this. I guess I'm used to my Godpa's house being noisy whenever we're around. This time it was quieter. It felt like everyone just decided in their heads that they wanted to spend time with each other more, that night, than doing anything else. Topics of conversation deviate from health issues to the Japanese Occupation. Then my grandfather started singing a Japanese song, right after telling us his experiences during the occupation. I will never imagine what he went through.
Midnight comes and we sing Happy Birthday and we cut a cake and we eat some and talk some more. Very soon it's time to sleep because some of us need to wake up by 5:45 for my Mum's convocation in the morning. Everything's fine till we get home and my aunt Christine feels really ill, it's hard for her to breathe, she's asthmatic. While we were at the university, she was brought to the clinic for a dose from the nebulizer. As afternoon came, it got worse. A supposed happy day was slowly turning into a sombre one.
On a side note, my cousin was getting weird signs all day. Like they were trying to tell her something, warn her. I don't know.
As my parents decide to drive back to Seremban to get my aunt admitted into the hospital there, where they have her records, my Godpa gets a feeling that maybe they should just take her to a hospital closer by. Turns out my aunt could have not made it through the ride to Seremban. She was supposed to fly back to Perth but that's small matter now.
All of this was just so overwhelming for me. Signs and feelings and instances. I've experienced, for the first time, the significance of chance and the effects of following a gut feeling.
I was going to do a little dedication to my Mum for all her hard work. But I've already let her know how proud I am of her so I don't need some space on the web to go on about it.
What I can't say enough and will never be able to is how fortunate my whole family is because of my Godpa. I don't know what we'll do without him. I am very convinced there is no one in this world like him. I have never met anyone who is as generous and helpful as he is. As reliable. As loving. The things he does for his family just baffles me.
Right now, my aunt is breathing with the help of a ventilator. I'm just staying positive.
This weekend was hands down the worst. It's all about timing. I know I'm missing out a few details but these are all that are still in my mind.
Sorry for the long story I just needed to get it out.
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