Epilogue for a Dear Friend

At around 10.30 AM in the morning, an SMS woke me up. I checked my phone - it was Pauline:

Uncle Simon passed away yesterday, I'm not kidding. Funeral is tomorrow.

At first I had no idea who she was referring to me about. I thought she meant that her uncle had passed away, and she wasn't coming to the potluck (groggy as I was, that was my assumption). So I put the phone down and went to sleep.

An hour later, I was awoken by yet another SMS. This time, it was Wei Ling telling me that the party was canceled because Mable and Pauline weren't able to come due to the passing away of "Uncle Dobby". Then I started thinking.... Uncle Dobby? Uncle Simon? Who...? Then it hit me. It was the uncle from "Kindly Laundry". The owner of the laundry shop near my old college.... I was shocked.

It turns out that Uncle (as we all called him), had died of a heart attack just yesterday. It seemed so unbelieveable.

We knew uncle through Pauline, who was his goddaughter. Almost half of my class knows him, I think. As I remember him, Uncle was kind, friendly, and fun to be with. We'd all go over to the laundry shop to hang out and chit chat. He'd make all sorts of jokes, and we'd all laugh. Uncle had a jolly face. You could see it in him that he was a cheerful person. He wasn't like any of the uncle-s I've met. He was hip, and actually really cool. We called him our "rockstar".

I remember this one time when uncle called us over to eat lunch. He'd made lunch for us. It was so good. He cooked mushroom and chicken soup with eggs. I ended up doing the washing (I offered la).

I horribly regret one thing. Not spending enough time with him. Everytime I come by the shop (which grew less and less), uncle would tell me : "Hey Miss Woo! Long time no see! Why never come to the shop now hah?" I guess the increasing ammount of workload made me withdraw, socially speaking. I went home immediately after class, spent lots of alone time in college, cos I really was very stressed up. I regret so much for not spending time with him. Cos now I can't. I won't see him anymore. My last memory of him, was that tight fatherly hug he gave me a month ago. Mable told us that he told his sons that he missed us. My heart ached at those words, and the tears started pouring.

I cried a lot yesterday, thinking about you, and how we won't see that jolly face of yours ever again. I'm sorry I couldn't come for the funeral, I am so mad at myself for not being able to go, and at my dad, for not letting me go. I sincerely hope that all is well. I pray with all my might that you will rest in peace. I pray for your family, for Auntie, for your sons, Sonny, Stanley, and one more (I forgot the name... Really sorry). I know that I, we, will never forget the beautiful memories we shared together. Here's to you, rockstar. We'll always remember you. We all love you.