Babe's Popo

Last Saturday, 30th of June, Babe and I were getting ready to go for a farewell party in our estate when Babe received a text message. He yelled out to me that his grandma passed away. Obviously he was very upset and he told me to go ahead to the party without him. So I went to the party with little Ba Ba and returned home in less than an hour. I wanted to say bye to our friends.

I first met Babe's grandma more than twenty years ago. I met her in church. I actually met her before I met Babe's mother. Babe told me that he was brought up by his grandma. When he was young, he lived with his grandma and his cousins and he lived with them till he was fourteen. So understandably he was quite upset. Popo was a very God fearing lady. She would read the bible and pray for her children, grandchildren and great grand children every day. When we got married, Popo was very elated for us. She loved Babe heaps. Over the years that I've known her, I've never seen or heard her raise her voice much less lose her temper. She was truly the model grandma. When she first got news that we adopted Baba, she wanted to know his name so that she can pray for him. I was very touched by it. Even towards the end of her life, she made sure that her grandchildren were well taken care. She lived frugally so that her grandchildren would be fine. That was another thing that touched me.

Last summer, we brought Baba home for the first time and the moment I landed, I brought Baba to the hospital to see Popo. Her face was brimming with joy. Whenever we headed home, we would bring little Baba to hang out with Popo. I'm sure little Baba enjoyed his time with Popo and so did Popo. The last time that we saw Popo was over Easter. Little Baba had a blast playing in her apartment. And Popo was amused by his antics. But little did we know that it would be Baba's last time to see her.

After hearing the news and getting more details, we booked our flights on Saturday and left on Sunday and we came back to HK on Wednesday. It was a rush trip but a good one. This was our first time rushing off to Spore. We went straight to the wake from the airport. It was hard on Babe. And on the last night of the wake, Babe made a little speech for his grandma. It was hard for him to do that. When he spoke, my tears rolled down. He loved her very much but we are glad that in time to come, we'll be able to meet her again.

Thanks Popo for raising Babe to be such a wonderful husband and father. I could never asked for more. You have influenced him more than you can imagine. Popo, we know that your greatest wish is for Babe's mother to come to faith too. We are praying for her and for Babe's father too. We believe that in time to come, they will come to faith.

At our church wedding some ten years ago. It's kinda bittersweet that three out of the eleven in the photo have left us to be with the Lord.

After our wedding reception at church.

Serving Popo tea. I can still remember her face brimming with joy and happiness.

Popo, Babe and Baba. I wished that I took more photos of Popo and I wished that we took a family photo with Popo too. Guess this is life. We never know when our loved ones would live us.

Little Baba monkeying around with Popo. If you look closely, you can see her smile. We miss you Popo.