Hey people. On Monday May 1st, my grand father passed away. I flew back on the first possible flight to Singapore. This evening i spoke at the wake. Here's the speech i gave. Hi everyone, For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Kevin and I’m the elder grandson of the family. I believe that the way everyone will remember my grand dad will all be different as we each have had our own personal experience with him and I’d like to take the time now to share my own experience with Ah Kong. I think I didn’t make such a good impression with Ah Kong when I was young. I think it was back when I was at the age of two or three. He wanted to teach me how to swim. When I got into the pool with him I would simply refuse to listen and swam wherever which way I wanted. He was so frustrated with me, he told my father that I was a stubborn child who refused to listen to instructions. He was a pretty good judge of character. So there began our early relationship… like uncle Clarence I too was scared of ah kong! We would just see each other briefly at lunch on Sundays after church. Maybe because Grandma was always there chatting with us and ah kong was usually the quiet one .. quite content to watch tv in his room. So when Grandma passed away we continued our family lunches every Sunday and that is when I actually became closer to him. Mum, dad Jin & Lynn and I would meet up with Ah Kong and now of course with Kah Yong too. And on occasions our Epohs would join us too at Pow Sing near the outside circus. I will forever fondly remember those lunches we had with the great food and Ah Kong’s signature sweet and sour fish done to order “extra crispy!” upon his request. We didn’t need to order there everyone just knew what we wanted. The waitresses would affectionately call out “Ah Kong lai le” and clear the pathway for him whenever he would enter and leave. The older staff would often scold the new staff for not knowing who he was and what he wanted. So it was during these lunches where he would need help getting around that I would help him from the house to the car, from car to the restaurant table, or to the toilet and then back home again. I would hold his hand and keep him steady. I remembered there was once when someone else offered to help him. He refused. He called for me instead and said I was more stable. I’m not sure too what he meant. Was it that I had a better grip on him or that I had a larger mass and therefore was a lot more stable? With time I had felt somewhat closer to my grand father. This year as I was on the way to the Airport to return to Sydney for the new semester, I was in the car with my parents. My dad turned around to me and said that something strange happened in the office today. He said he had a message to pass to me from Ah Kong. My mum and I exchanged puzzled looks wondering what it could be. He said that Ah Kong called him in the office today and had asked if I had left yet as he wanted to pass me a message. Ah Kong told dad, “Tell Kevin that I want to thank him for helping me to get around and that I will miss him.” It was at this time that I really cherished those afternoons that I spent with him. It was perhaps the words that he would “miss me” that still make me tear when I recall them. It was also then that I realized that I mattered to Ah Kong. I called him up immediately and thanked him personally. Those were the last words that I had spoken to him and heard his voice saying those words to me. They will forever be fondly remembered. And now “Ah Kong, I will miss you too.” God bless and rest in peace. | 
