[Family] One Cool Ah Kong
My Ah Kong passed away on 14th Sept 2005 at 10pm. I was working in Bangkok at that time, when he left to embark on another journey.
Ah Kong was always a kind, unassuming gentleman. He was independent and would walk around whichever neighborhood he was visiting in…. on his own when I was younger, and later on with a cane towards the late nineties.
Age never did seem to be able to stop him from his constitutional; and even when he had a stroke years ago he bounced back within weeks strolling around … though with a slower trot.
Me and my siblings returned on 9th Sept 2005 with the fear that Ah Kong would not make it over the weekend. While Ah Kong had started to deteriorate over the past few months, it was more on dozing off in the middle of a café, and his sudden condition was quite a shock to many of us. Even when he was frail in bed, I just hoped against all hope – that he would be able to recover.
Such is the impermanence of our being and our world … life is the symbiotic antithesis of death, all that is young will age; and where there is gain there is also loss.
But there was never any doubt of the genuine love Ah Kong had for his family, and each and every one of us loved him too. According to my mother, Ah Kong passed away peacefully with many of the immediate family at his bedside.
My sister summed it very well when she said in tears - “Ah Kong was cool, and I miss him already”. My generation grew up adoring Ah Kong. He was always there to take care of us – be it simply getting some roti canai, ballet lessons, frying papadams or simply being in our midst.
It will take getting used to – to not see him over for dinners over the weekends anymore, to not see him squabbling with Ah Mah once in a blue moon but knowing he adored her, to see him walking somewhere around my place, and to simply call “Ah Kong” and giving him a quick hug.
Thanks for everything Ah Kong,
Your loving grandson – Keen Soon.
Ah Kong was always a kind, unassuming gentleman. He was independent and would walk around whichever neighborhood he was visiting in…. on his own when I was younger, and later on with a cane towards the late nineties.
Age never did seem to be able to stop him from his constitutional; and even when he had a stroke years ago he bounced back within weeks strolling around … though with a slower trot.
Me and my siblings returned on 9th Sept 2005 with the fear that Ah Kong would not make it over the weekend. While Ah Kong had started to deteriorate over the past few months, it was more on dozing off in the middle of a café, and his sudden condition was quite a shock to many of us. Even when he was frail in bed, I just hoped against all hope – that he would be able to recover.
Such is the impermanence of our being and our world … life is the symbiotic antithesis of death, all that is young will age; and where there is gain there is also loss.
But there was never any doubt of the genuine love Ah Kong had for his family, and each and every one of us loved him too. According to my mother, Ah Kong passed away peacefully with many of the immediate family at his bedside.
My sister summed it very well when she said in tears - “Ah Kong was cool, and I miss him already”. My generation grew up adoring Ah Kong. He was always there to take care of us – be it simply getting some roti canai, ballet lessons, frying papadams or simply being in our midst.
It will take getting used to – to not see him over for dinners over the weekends anymore, to not see him squabbling with Ah Mah once in a blue moon but knowing he adored her, to see him walking somewhere around my place, and to simply call “Ah Kong” and giving him a quick hug.
Thanks for everything Ah Kong,
Your loving grandson – Keen Soon.
posted by keensoon at
Monday, September 19, 2005
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