Grandpa’s Death Anniversary – 8th March

I heard from my Mum that it’s my grandpa’s death anniversary tomorrow (8th March). It has been quite a number of years since he passed away. I didn’t really count… but if I remembered correctly, I was still in JC when he died from the sudden heart attack at the coffee shop just across the road from his flat at Dover Road.

I still remembered that it was the first time I saw my Dad tear a little bit, coz he said it’s just the wrong place for someone to die… not at home, not at the hospital… but at a coffee shop with no one to help him when he fell from his heart attack, bruising his head & there was no relatives or family members around. I feel so sad that it had to happen that way… & I don’t recall him accepting Christ as his Savior when he was still alive. Plus, with the pain from the heart attack, I don’t know if he could have thought about calling on the name of Jesus before he died… Sigh…

There are so many stories & memories that have of my grandpa. And I still miss him, whenever I think about it. I don’t visit his urn at the temple, coz I feel that it can be a stumbling block for other non-Christians if I do so. Plus, I don’t like all the smoke & dust inside the temple. But I remember grandpa inside my heart…

Some of the memories include…

1) Staying over at his flat during my primary school holidays

2) Buying lots of toys for me

3) Buying packets & packets of stickers for me to stick in the sticker album

4) Playing with his type-writer in the middle of the night & trying to form soldiers from typing certain characters

5) Pinching him inside the taxi for waking me up from my sleep

6) Bringing me to watch the ‘Care Bears’ movie at the cinema (that time, the price was $2.50)

7) Bringing me to borrow cartoon video tapes

8) Walking around IMM with me

9) Making tea & bread for me in the morning

10) Singing ‘Oldies’ to me

11) Teaching me how to use the cassette player when he bought me the ‘Rocky III’ soundtrack cassette tape

12) Going to the library to photocopy & write down notes on how to draw art

13) Learning about math like LCM so that he could teach me

14) Buying a magnetic paper clip holder for me

15) Telling me stories about the Japanese Occupation, making his own swimming trunks & swimming in the river or 60 rounds inside the pool

16) Bringing me to eat at my favorite Wan Tan Mee stall at the hawker centre across the road from his flat

17) Showing me the list of 14 generations of my ‘Sum’ family tree, which he went all the way to China to trace

18) Wearing his underwear & walking around the house… even when answering the door bell

Now that I have thought back on some of these memories, I really miss him a lot, but I can’t go back to those younger days again… though I REALLY wish I could…