The day after Christmas(26 Dec 2002), I sent dad to the barber to have his hair cut- I had just resigned from my previous company and was going to join my current company in a week's time. While waiting for me to fetch him home, he had a stroke. When I got there, he was already feeling the numbness on one side of his body and we had to carry him into the car. I immediately drove him to the Loh Guan Lye Specialist Centre. Within a few hours, he was already in a coma. The scan showed that he had a serious haemorrahage in the brain and there was little the surgeons could do. Dad passed away the following day at around 11.00am.
If I may repeat his eulogy here(who am I kidding? It's my blog!), there are 3 things I would like to mention about my dad:
1. A filial son
This is perhaps one of his most wonderful and scary traits. Ever since I was small, I'd heard from the old aunts about how obedient my dad was to his parents(my grandparents passed away when I was still very young). One of the most unbelievable(and perhap most stupid by today's standard) things he did was driving my granny to the hair salon and waited IN THE CAR for her to get her hair done. Mind you, we are talking about the old 60's and 70's when cars didn't have air-conditioners! Another example is how my eldest brother got his motorcycle. Apparently when he wanted to have his Suzuki X-7, he didn't approach my dad-he asked my granny and it was my granny who "ordered" my dad to get the motorcycle.
2. A loving husband
Now here's something I really find it hard to understand- he usually let my mom have her ways with things! My mom can be rather unreasonable with things and he rarely argued with her. Sometimes he did look wimpish but in retrospect, I think he showed his love by giving in to her. My mom does not have a gambling problem but she enjoys going to Genting once in a while. Back then when dad was around, he'd take her there quite often and let her enjoy herself, while he would just sit aside watching most of the time. Why didn't he gamble much, you may ask... well, coz he sucked at gambling. Last month when mom was at Genting, my eldest brother mentioned that she cried coz dad's not around to "spoil" her...
3. A wonderful father
Generally my dad was my hero when I was small- I used to believe that he could beat KING KONG. He hardly disciplined me- most of the caning were from my mom- but when he was upset, it was like the worst thing that could possibly happen to me. On the other side, he's a great joker. He was great to hang out with because of his sense of humour(I think I've got mine from him, apart from his good looks). Perhaps being the youngest child, I was the one who never really grew up in his eyes. Last time he used to watch TV lying on the floor - I could still come over and lay my head on his back and talk, even though I was already in my mid 20's then.
Overall, it's quite cool to be with my dad. He's perpetually proud of his children no matter what. Even though he was not a christian then, he used to attend the Christmas and Easter presentations organised by my church because I was in them. Had he been alive in 2003, I think he would've been so proud of me directing the church anniversary drama.
Even though he's not here anymore and I miss his annoying phone calls(i.e. calls made to asked what you are doing at the moment), I'm happy to know that he had made his decision to accept Christ as his Lord and one day I will see him again and say, "Hey handsome! Long time no see ah?"
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