In memory of my mother

Yap Liew (1917 - 1993)

Today is actually my mother's 18th death anniversary. She died in Tung Shin Hospital, KL, and the date was easy to remember because of Christmas Eve and when Highland Tower collapsed (1993), killing many residents and people who happened to be there.

Being home alone also brings back memories of when after the funeral service, everybody left the family house except me. The loneliness which I felt was more so when just hours earlier there was a big crowd of relatives and friends who were present. I realized I was all alone when I woke up at dusk from a nap.

I used to travel between KL and BG, between my mother and my own family, almost every week for 12 years, when the North-South Expressway has yet to open.

Being the youngest in the family, when I came back from UK for good, my father was already paralyzed after a stroke. He passed on in 1982, a few months after. Despite having a large family and many grandchildren, my mother lived by herself most of the time and I was with her 5 days in a week. Many would not know that my 'Cheah pah siew eng' was actually her favourite expression of anyone who got involved into a lot of trouble unnecessarily for minding others business.

For the past couple of days, I had been uploading old pictures of our own Clan in Facebook, much to the pleasant surprise of my nephews and nieces who had seen them for the first time. We even have a family tree which covers five generations! Thanks to the internet and Facebook, information sharing has been made so easy and almost instantaneous.

Meanwhile, it will be Lonely this Christmas again.

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