She is a strong lady.

Indeed she is. She is strong and fiercely independent lady. Many people - doctors, nurses, friends have commented that she is a strong lady. She hung on despite a collasped lung. She suffered a stroke. She was on morphine. They finally sedated her. On 6th April, she stopped breathing for at least 20 seconds. This pattern continued for a while. She hung on. Docs prognosis wasnt good. He asked us to call everyone down. That was on 6th April, afternoon. All of us were there. Palliative doctor asked us to be prepared - its either the evening or in the night. At most, it will be next morning. We have gotten the pastor ready. We were prepared. That was on 6th April, Tuesday.

Strong lady she is. She hung on. Her organs were shutting. She fought on. Every visitor, every medical staff - the doctors, the nurses commented that she is a strong lady. They were amazed at her fighting spirit, her determination and her will to fight on. She hung on for another 3 days. She is a living miracle.


This is a balloon I bought for her, after figuring out that fresh flowers die easily. For the 3 weeks since I bought the balloon, it stood tall and straight. I always thought someone has been bringing it to the gift shop at the lobby to have the helium pump. Then, as i asked my family, relatives and the nurses, apparently none has been doing it. It stood tall and straight for 3 WHOLE WEEKS.
A strong balloon too. I brought it down to have it pumped after the 3rd week. It didnt last long. The next day, 5th April, i learnt that her left lung collasped. The balloon lost air too.

It seems silly, but somehow, the balloon seems to parallel her journey. It stood straight and upright, cheering for her. It stood straight and upright, lifting her spirits ( or rather mine) during her stay there. The day they found that her left lung collasped, it (the balloon) seemed to have shared the despair. It lose hope. It lose strength.

I didnt have it pumped again. i told everyone - the day the balloon loses all its air, it would also be the day that she will go. I hung on to the balloon. It gave me hope, yet i know she will go.

On 8th April, I flatten the balloon that night. She left. She has indeed got well in His presence. There is no more pain, no more tears, no more heartaches. She is well again indeed.


She is a strong lady and so will I be. We will meet again in heaven.

Her will

I dont know how to title this post, thus decided to name it 'Her will'. Afterall, we often link will to dividing a deceased's money.
Almost 2 months after she left, i finally sat down to work out the expenses and divided the remaining amount among her 3 grandchildren.

It amazed me on how an old lady like her could have accumulated almost $9000 ++ at her age. She was a frugal lady. As i took out her spare notes and coins from her pouch, i remembered a conversation we had. I couldnt exactly understand her thoughts, but it went along the line in not wanting the SMRT to earn her few cents. She had a elderly concession card and according to her, the concession was not valid during certain hours in the weekend. Thus, she claimed that she can save a few cents if she uses coins rather than her EZ link conceession card on non-concession period. That explains her heavy pouch with spare notes and coins.

She left some money for her decendents. I felt ashamed. During her stay in the hospital, there were plans to transfer her to a nursing home. We applied for a subsided nursing home, but due to the long waiting list, we had to move her to a private home first. A private nursing home is expensive, easily costing up at $ 2000 a month. As i was sourcing around and making the arrangement, i was concern about the cost. I was concern about the drain in my finances. It was a valid concern then. Yet, now as I divided her money, a deep sense of guilt came over me. I was concern about the finances she will incur during the stay in the nursing home, yet, now, i didnt fork out a single cent for the private nursing home, and in addition, she left money. I decided to divide it among her 3 grandchildren, i.e my uncle, my auntie and my mother. She left us something even when we gave her nothing.

That's my greatgrandmother.Frugal and selfless.