All Souls day
Today is All Souls Day. [It's the same as the Chinese' Qing Ming.] Mum and the family up north have gone to the cemetary to place flowers and say prayers for Grandpa, Grandma, a couple of [gran]uncles and aunts, and cousins too. Sis is way down south, in Kluang, visiting Daddy’s grave, placing flowers and saying a prayer or 2 too. Me, I’m here wishing that I was back home and in Kluang because I haven’t gone to see Dad in a VERY long time. And a very long time here means years and I really feel very bad about it. I wanted to do so the last time I was down but because I was carrying Ella, Mum wasn’t too happy about me stepping foot at the cemetary. As for all those past years, my only valid excuse was that I was working and couldn’t find the time. 
I’m glad though that Sis is in JB and the closest to Kluang because we can always count on her to drop by and visit the grave to clean it and put flowers for him. You know, it’s really weird that people even steal from the dead. Not talking about grave robbers of course, those people are and should be cursed! This is through personal experience. In those early months after Dad passed on, Mum had placed one of her favourite vases on his grave and we would fill it with flowers every week since we were still living in Kluang. It didn’t take long before that vase miraculously ‘disappeared’. And whenever Mum replaced the vase, that too would disappear until she got so fed up and practically ran out of vases to put on the grave that we had to resort to Nescafe bottles which thankfully is still there. I think.
I really don’t get it…..why would anyone want to steal from the dead? Not scared ka? I wouldn’t DARE to even think of it let alone carry the thought out! To me, the dead should ALWAYS be respected hence, I hardly say a word when I’m at the cemetary. I don’t know why I choose to remain silent. Perhaps it’s just my way of showing respect rather than be talking about this and that, knowing that those topics can wait till later. Another thing that I find myself doing is ‘apologising’ to the grave that I may have stepped upon because in Kluang, the plots are so messed up that if you’re not careful, you’ll actually find yourself standing on top of someone’s grave that doesn’t have a tombstone or cross to show that someone is burried there. That I find a little pitiful…graves without any crosses or signs that someone is burried there. It could be various reasons why there is no sign and the most likely reason is because the family can’t afford to build a tombstone for their loved one[s].
I’m not sure where this post is heading but I just felt I had to let it out….haiz, I miss Dad but I know he is looking down on us from up there. At least he is no longer suffering and that itself is the best consolation I could ever ask for. Rest in peace, Daddy….
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