celebrating life and accepting death

On Saturday night, I had a deep and long talk with MSO. A lot of stuff. It had led us to one topic. Life. Celebrating life. Without realizing, I was talking about how thankful I am that I am able to just live. Live life. I wake up everyday feeling happy, alhamdulillah. I get to live for another day. Alhamdulillah for everything that I am blessed with. No matter how hard things might get, I believe Allah is with me. Everytime.

I woke up at 6 on a Sunday morning when my mother read the SMS on her handphone and said, "Achik manap dah meninggal.." My uncle who has been in ICU for a month in Taiping had just passed away.

It was somehow expected but unexpected. On Saturday my mother just updated me on his status. He was unconcious after his operation and after so long, yesterday, he finally was concious and was able to talk and greet people like normal but of course very weak after his operation.

It was also my nephew, Aman's 5th Birthday celebration. But unfortunately, we could not go since we had to drive up to Taiping to pay our last respect to my dear uncle. At 9, we stopped by at Bukit Subang and gave Aman's presents and hung out with him for awhile. After that, we drove to Taiping and finally reached there at 1.00 pm.

Taiping. I once said to Meg, I don't mind staying in Taiping. It's such a nice place to stay. My uncle's house was just nearby Tesco Taiping. I used to hang out at his place almost every fortnight while studying there. And I can eat nasi kosong at his house for one whole place because the nasi there is just nice. He would buy for me and my parents kuih like goreng pisang or ubi goreng for tea. And the water at his house is as cold as the water in the Bukit Larut waterfalls.

My late uncle is a penchant man. He raised 5 good sons and they inherited his talent in arts. They're all architect or at least doing something in that area. He would go to the mosque with his motorbike and reads Harakah and talk about politics with anyone that passes by. He was very friendly. And he and his wife would buy one meal and share the meal together. Which I think is very sweet for a 70+ year old couple.

My late uncle. The one who teases me every time he meets me. "Kamu ni duduk umah Wan Yong, disuruhnya masak sambal petai.. ye?" My late uncle. Who loved to talk with just anyone. My late uncle. The one who took good care of me when I was in Taiping. And welcomed us with such warmth everytime we hung out at his place.

We stayed for his funeral to give our last respect. That's the least we could do. Once again, I witnessed the beauty of Islam. Where everything has it's timing. Everything was done with such manner, such perfection, such symbolic. Islam teaches us to learn about death. And this experience was a real eye opener for me. We cry for the passing of a person. But we learn that life is short where it starts with Adzhan when we were first born, and ends with Solat right before we are sent back to the Al-Mighty Allah.

Al - Fatihah to my late uncle, arwah Abdul Manaf bin Abdul Aziz. A great man. Who shall be missed..

May you rest in peace.. and have Allah's blessings, insyaAllah.