Are They Having A Party?

November 9, 2005

Uncle Eng passed away last night. So had to go to Singapore with Mum to attend the funeral. Initially decided to leave all the boys with Sexydad, but felt “kesian” for him, so brought Lucas along with me.

We took the Delima Express, and Lucas fell asleep about 5 minutes into the journey. He’s good when it comes to traveling—journey start he sleeps; before journey ends he wakes up. No trouble.

Reached Singapore and took a cab to St. Joseph’s Church in Bukit Timah. They had a chapel there for funeral services. Nice name—Chapel of Resurrection.

It was almost 8pm when we reached there. As we were walking towards the chapel, we could see lots of people, flowers, microphone, lectern, lights etc…..

And Lucas asked me, “Are they having a party?”

Ha!!! This boy has the knack for asking questions that are correct to my mind, but would be wrong if I said “yes” in polite society.

To me having the wake, giving your reflections on the person life, achievement etc, is a celebration. So, yeah, it’s a party. He’s an old man who has led a busy and fruitful life, has a fantastically kind and generous wife, a daughter who’s highly successful in what’s she’s doing, and two grandkids with another to come. I think celebrating his passing is a tribute to him.

But if I were to tell Lucas that yes it’s a party, then he’ll probably start singing some “Ho ho ho it’s magic…. you know………..” and get both of us lots of stares. So I said. “Urrrr…..not really, dear.”

When it's time for my funeral, I want them to have a reason to celebrate.