Memoriam the Second
My grandmother on my father's side passed away at 3am on Sunday. She had been sickly even before that; this was, I think, the fourth time in a year or so that she had been hospitalised with complaints of difficulty breathing. She had already been unable to sleep without the help of an oxygen concentrator, and her mobility was already extremely limited due to her breathlessness. We were informed of this by a group call on the family Messenger at around 6am. At the moment the immediate concerns were to pay off the remainder of her hospital bill and bring the body home, and then to alert everybody who was still sleeping and had missed the group call. This happened in Johor. A significant part of the family was in Singapore and unable to return: Fourth Aunt, Third Brother, Fourth Sister, myself, and various other cousins and in-laws. Others yet were overseas. As I told someone, geographical distance helps a little with emotional distance. But there always comes a time for remembering.