So much has happened this month. I received un-expected surprises from my man (more to come he said), my career is progressing well but the thing that really hit me the most is when I received a sad news.

I was informed by my mom via the phone that my popo (grandmother; my dad’s mom) has ‘left’ the family for eternity.

I was shocked.

I was speechless.

After awhile in silence (I do not remember for how long), I pulled myself together and told to myself that I have to be mentally strong so I called my man. It was just a short sentence that describes what has happened and shortly after, I broke down in tears.

I wasn’t mentally strong after all. I wasn’t ready for this at all.

With the advice and moral support from my man, I did whatever those are necessary to get out from the office and back to my home to pack my stuff. Everything happened so fast and the next thing I know, I was driving on the highway from Miri to Kuching non-stop (15 hours of driving).

OK, I exaggerated a little on the non-stop thingy, I did stop at few rest points along the trip though ;p. I couldn’t get any available flight seats on that day as it was the peak period (school holidays) so my family decided to drive instead (we drove 2 cars).

It is quite emotional for me once I reached my uncle’s house (my uncle has been dedicated his life to take care of my late popo all this while and that’s one of the reason why he is still single man and he’s already in his 40s) to see few familiar family member faces and other un-familiar faces (which I believe are also family relatives that I barely know) crying, weeping near my late popo’s coffin.

Everybody was sad. Everybody was down.

I walked slowly toward my popo’s coffin and there she was with her eyes closed and smiling at me. She wore a beautiful blue Chinese cheongsam blouse and spiritually I know she had ‘left’ us peacefully.

I touched her face for the last time (or else I would give her a hug each time I visited her) and say a prayer for her.

Surprisingly, I didn’t cry.

My late popo laid to rest next to her beloved husband (my late grandfather) in one grave (typical conservative Chinese style where husband and wife will be buried under one grave) at Siburan. Finally after 20 years, my late popo joined my kung kung (grandfather) to the other world and we (those who stayed behind) on the other hand will need to move on with our life.

I began to realize how precious life is. One has to appreciate in whatever they are doing in life; be it just a small matter or big matter to others but the bottom line is every move you make does matter.

It is told that my late popo sacrifices her young age by stop schooling, rotating helping her parent to take care of her younger siblings while they are away working and at times she goes to tap rubber and works in a pepper farm to earn extra for the family. There were 5 of them and popo was the eldest.

Life was hard back then.

She tried her very best to ensure all of her siblings getting a proper education and her hard efforts has paid off. Now, all of her siblings are successful and competitive people in entrepreneurship, law, police force and unit trust lines. 2 of her sisters flew all the way from London and Boston (they’re holding PR status) to pay their last respect to her. Cousins that I barely knew flew from Miri, KL, and Singapore and not to mention those who resided in the cat city itself.

And never do I expect that my popo is also related (1st cousin) to the Sabah & Sarawak Head of Justice (now retired).

What a finding after all.

It is sad to say that when it comes to such a sad occasion like this, then only we get to know who is who. And I have to say that it happens in my family. :( Everything reveals when we had a big family gathering with the closest family members at Rock Road Seafood Restaurant, Kuching.

But despite all of these, I’ve told myself that I’m going to make the changes. And to achieve this, I’ve make a big step by ‘migrating’ to the cat city early next year and by God’s will, I’m hoping everything will go accordingly to plan.

One can never expect a blessing in disguise after all.

Don’t you think so? I think so. :)