-Friday, December 17, 2010-1:00 AM Y
The dream begins...
13 dec Mon: The time when we cried very hard was not when we discovered he was dead, in fact we kept singing and talking to him, hoping that he would wake up, but he didnt. We called all our relatives to tell them rush down, we called fr siew to annoint him, and also doctor to come certify his death, then finally st joseph dying aid to take him away. The most unforgettable scenario was that of when people from SJDA carried and wrapped him up in the bedsheet with a layer of plastic lastly an orange sheet and then brought him away in the lorry.. I broke down. Hate saying byebye.
At the wake during the 2 days, it's more if entertaining lots of people.. regardless of whether we know them or not.. most of them are my dad's friends. At night was those prayer groups. Dad is really blessed. People must queue to pray for him. The entire oratory has 2 rooms, dad is in room 2. The first night of the wake proved that the small room and 11 tables outside was not enough. The second day was good. The wake in room 1 ended, so dad was given 'special', by having the partition door between the 2 rooms removed. In other words, our dad has the entire oratory to himself! But.. in the day 2 of the wake which is the final night, the room was packed almost like sardine. omg luckily he has the whole oratory.:)Dad must be go good that everyone wants to see him.:)
15 dec: Last day of wake. Everyone was prepared to bid goodbye. At 3 plus the photographer took our family pictures. As we wanted to put in additional stuff like the bottle of stars we made for dad, the motivational cards we wrote for him, and lastly a prayer cloth with him, Lydia requested for the coffin to be opened. It was an unforgettable sight..we saw his whole body, wrapped in the beautiful cloth.. touch his hands..and his face.. so great.. touching dad.. He was hard..totally stiffen.. I feel fingers, his forehead, cheeks..It was nice. So difficult to part.
At last his body was taken by the van to church where the funeral mass started at 5pm. It was in Chinese. Knowing that we did not want to have a urology, Fr Henry Siew, our celebrant gave quite a detailed description of our dad during his homily. During the wake the day before, Lynette and I provided him with alot of info. Hehe. A touching one..how true it is, that dad is a great man.
After mass was to Mandai crematorium, Hall 3.Ours at 6.45pm. Bidding goodbye was always not easy. I cant forget the part where we put flowers on his coffin to bid last goodbye. It was sad. After which we were directed to the viewing hall. Many said that this is the saddest part of all. We were prepared. At the same time, we constantly remind ourselves to pray when the coffin is being pushed in. My choir member Jenny instructed us before the mass, that we should pray the rosary as dad is being burnt, because that is when the way is pave for dad to go heaven and that heaven door will be open. True enough, at that point, I closed my eyes and hugged my hubby while at the same time held back tears and mumbled Our Father..mum heard me and prayed too..soon i think everyone in the room prayed in unison. It wasnt the worst after all.. Prayer works wonders! Thanks Jenny. I thanked her today during penitential service at st anne today. The night ended with a simple chinese dinner at Ah peng restaurant.
16 dec Thur, Today. A special day: Collection of ashes from Mandai at 3pm then installation in St Anne church's columbarium, My grandfather's (dad's dad) 5th year death anniversary, my 28th month-sary with hubby.