Saturday, June 12, 2010

I LOVE YOU - Say it before it's too late 2

Salam everyone,

I think this is the second entry of the same topic that I wrote quite sometime ago.
Here is the story.

I was very excited. My cousins and family from Spore will be driving down to Kuantan to visit our new house. Best of all, my aunt whom I had visited in ICU at Tan Tock Seng Hospital last year will be joining us.
She arrived on the 4th of June in her wheelchair via Firefly. When I greeted her at the Sultan Ahmad Airport Kuantan, I was smiling ear to ear, trying to control my tears of joy. "She finally made it" - I sighed. Her grandchildren were all very excited and asked me what was the plan like for them throughout the 3 days visit. I told them, there are so many activities that Kuantan has to offer. We have beautiful sandy beach, an esplanade along the Kuantan river and also the majestic Sg Pandan waterfall. There are also three cinemas and two big malls in Kuantan. RM6-RM10 cinema ticket per entry for my cousins are way too cheap when they convert the Spore Dollar into RM. There are hardly pirated DVD's in spore and so to watch a movie with SG10 compared to our ticket, made them crazzy over the idea of having a marathon movie episode.
On the 5th of June, we had dinner with the whole clan at my place. 7 Singapore cars with almost 50 of us altogether having fun, chatting, giggling while exchanging stories. My aunt was there too, observing but she was quite weak as she had started to have series of vommitting. She had not been well prior to coming here but was adamant enough to proceed with the trip. Because she had her medication with her, we thought she would eventually recover....
On Sunday morning I sent them back to the airport and at the check-in counter, I hugged her tight and whispered "Terima kasih cik sebab sudi datang. Saya nak makcik tahu, saya sayang makcik". I told her that I love her so much and gently kissed her on her cheeks and forehead. Gosh..she looked very much like my belated father. Everytime she stared at me, I could feel my father's presence.
At the departure gate, again I told her how much I love her and that I would be meeting her again. Little did I realize that I was going to meet her , sooner that what I had expected..
How true.....
Three days later, I received the news that she passed away on the way to the hospital.
Devastated, we drove down to Singapore, only three days after her visit to Kuantan. Her daughter told me later that it was her wish to visit me under any circumstances..

Bathing her (mandi jenazah) was the most touching moment. In that instant, I saw a woman who had lived her life to the fullest, contributing in whatever way she could to her family and loved ones. She had a tremendously kind heart and I would definitely miss her. All of us will. And when I left Singapore, I looked at my children and wonder whether they would miss me as much as I do towards my aunt. The time and love that she shared when I was young had created this feeling that I have now. How true..what we sincerely give...we will definitely get back....(Insya-Allah).

Al-fatihah to my beloved makcik, Hajjah Juriah binti Ahmad.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

If you are a football fan and happen to be in Barcelona, you can not miss Barca.






Camp Nou is one of the greatest stadiums in world football. Since FC Barcelona was founded, great players have created historic moments in its 100,000 capacity stadium. I experienced the magic of this stadium with the Camp Nou Tour. It cost me 17 Euro per entry. I also went to the FCB Megastore. Watching the historical football moments on the giant screens was such a thrill. I could feel the adrenalin rush, excitement and joy as I witnessed mesmerizing shots..truly football talent and skills at its best!