Well, I have not blogged for a long time. Lazy? Tired? Given my workload as a mother of two naughty/almost genius kids… as my doctor asked my dad on how I am doing and understood “Yunisa sibuk ngurus anak.”
Anyway, I just lost my maternal grandma on Indonesian mother’s day. Her passing was so sudden, quick, and unexpected. She was healthy, but her energy was depleted, just like the advertisement of the Energizer/Duracell bunny/battery, I guess. Our heart has an expiry date, just like a battery. What a weird analogy? But that came on my mind when the verdict is cardiac arrest.
So now I have no grandma. 11 years apart. The sadness inside me is still the same. I love both grandmas. I was close to them. One of the advantages being born earlier than other grandchildren and having parents who loved their parents is you got to know your grandmas better.
The stark difference between maternal and paternal families lie on the respects. I love how my mother’s siblings respect their mother. How my maternal cousins and uncles/aunts did not take selfies.
It has been 11 years plus and yet I still hate the still-living uncle and cousins who took selfies for the sake of Blackberry Messenger profile pictures! They were never by her side when she was ill, but upon her passing, they acted as if they loved her. So sickening! I am not exaggerating. You can ask my sisters who also witnessed this.
Back to my maternal grandma. Some grandchildren are born late, so they did not know the grandma I knew, the fun loving and cheerful grandma with plenty bedtime stories. Not just the super religious grandma who always read Bible and had tons of church activities – boring for the new generation of grandchildren haha. Fascinating for me who knew her before and after.
Hey, our grandma was very beautiful and a bit vain like me? She sang well (I don’t), she danced well (I do). She was a very good storyteller (I do). She experienced wars first hand. The horrifying experiences… The Dutch, the Japanese… How her mother took precautions to protect her… How her dad was bad but she still loved him… How her elder sister was selfish, but she still loved her…
Our grandma was depressed when our grandpa passed away. She was truly what we call as a lifelong learner. She picked up Christianity when she was 55 years old. She studied hard. Her passion and thirst for learning was world class.
I do not know whether grandma realized that she had lived her whole life as an examplary Christian, even before she was a Christian. She was always kind, even to those who betrayed and hurt her. (This, I will never be able to do). But my maternal grandma was a saint. She never accumulated wealth for herself. She paid for her stepchildren’s, stepsiblings’, stepmother’s cost of living, education, and so on. And I did not see any of them at her funeral.
WTH. Emakku baik banget, kalian emang gak tau diri. Pantes hidup kalian susah terus, gak ada damai sejahtera. Lah wong menghormati orang tua aja tidak dipraktikkan.
Apologize for the rants. Emakku pasti sudah bahagia di rumah Bapa, bisa ikut paduan suara malaikat di Surga. Aku di sini kok malah misuh-misuhin orang-orang yang kelasnya kalah sama hewan yang diselamatkan dan tahu balas budi. Sugeng kondur, Mak.
See you in Heaven
Tags: 30haribercerita, Christianity
