Ok so my grandmother’s funeral lasted for a week, from 27/11 to 3/12. it was held at the void deck beside my blk cos my father is the youngest son. Tradition has it that the funeral be held either at the oldest or youngest son and the oldest son is in Holland so yah.

It wasn’t a happy occasion (DUH!) but it somehow helped to bring the family together. There was nv a “gathering” like that. So I suppose sth good out of sth bad? Baaah I dunno wad im talking about. But u get my gist.

so it was basically just hosting the people who came to pay their respects and playing cards and playing mahjong and eating and eating and eating. Seriously. Everybody (ok fine, the females) complained they put on weight.

Ok i dun wan to go to the details but I really think this funeral (I know it’s supposed to be a sad occasion, and it is) brought the family tgt. All my uncles from Holland flew back. Like ALL. Including my 5th uncle whom I’ve only seen once for 2 mins because we happen to just zhuang4 dao4 at bugis (he came back to visit his children a few years back). And my 6th uncle whom my mother said ive seen when I was 3. or was it my 5th uncle? aiya the main idea is I have no idea how they look like until like a few days back.

And it’s like the first time in my family history that the 12 siblings appeared together at the same time at the same place. First time leh. Cos my 1st and 3rd uncle left for Holland when my ah ma was still pregnant with my father. Then subsequently a few more went over also. And they do come back but nv at the same time. So yah my father is 45 years, so it’s like 45 years since all siblings were together. Historical moment.

And as for me, the amount that I talk to some of my cousins in this week is like more than what I’ve talked to them for my entire life so far before the funeral.

Ok enough about the historical moments.

Everything was quite ok, I supposed things went smoothly. Except that we needed extra tables, extra drinks, extra fridge, extra fans, extra peanuts, extra lights… cos my family is like erm huge. Then all the like in-laws and friends came to pay respects so yah. and we needed to buses to fetch us to the mandai crematorium place. Not mini bus hor. Big bus.

The emotional moments were the first prayer on the night when my ah ma passed away and the final prayer on the last night of the funeral and the last day. The last day was the worse. Cos u knw, it’s the final journey for my ahma.

Oh yah and when all the brothers and sisters were there together. Especially when my 5th and 6th uncle returned. Cos it’s like yah those 2 are the most mo sheng ones. Then we were like counting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12. like finally can finish counting. It was quite weird having to call them uncles at first cos it’s like “erm I dunno u leh”. But it was fine cos the thing about the siblings is that they sure look like some other sibling. Yah so there was the 胡家 look.

But my uncle said that we shldnt be too sad because my ah ma lived a long life, have so many children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. She lived a blessed life.

Ok I dun feel like continuing alrdy.