The Irony of Life

It's weird how life can be full of love and happiness one minute and the next filled with sadness and depression.

I was working in the Kindergarden till 4 pm today. For some reason, I felt quite depressed with how things worked out in work that day. So at around 4 pm, I walked out of the Kindergarden ready to get into my car and go home and have a nice afternoon nap. Before that, I talked on the phone with Cody around 20 minutes ago to sort of vent out my frustration. But half way through, he told me he would call back 5 minutes later as he needed to do some 'big' business! Fine, I waited and waited and waited. Was about to call him back and give him a slight scolding. But decided do it later.

When I step out from the house, (the Kindergarden is a house!) I heard somebody calling out 'leng mui!' (Pretty gal) so naturally I turned around and guess what, Cody was standing there by the side of the gate all smiling and holding hiss bag and stuff. You may ask what is so surprising about this. Well, first of, Cody is studying in Malacca which is like 2 hours away from my place, and his class is till Friday. So I was expecting him back tomorrow. So imagine how surprised I was! I was speechless for a whole 5 minutes! And well that's a lot for me! =)

I was so surprised! Turns out he skiped his classes (6 hours altogether!) to come down today. I felt guilty yet happy at the same time. He shouldn't have skipped his classes but... Hehe... =)

So we proceeded to go for tea at one of the local Indian shop. On the way, we were planning on wat to have for tea and also what to do till dinner time. I am planning to blog on my favorite local food soon so nowadays I carry a camera around me wherever I go. Kinda embarrassing if u ask me but oh well... for the sake of my imaginary readers. Anyway, halfway joking and fooling around while looking like a total jungle girl taking photos of all the food around me, Cody suddenly received a phone call. Slowly his voice changed and he started from looking normal, to shock, to worried and finally to fear and dread. I caught a glimpse of the conversation, a bit of 'oh my god!’, 'f**k!' and the giveaway... 'She was sleeping?'

I sorta guess wat happen. Turns out his maternal grandmother passed away while asleep. Just a few hours ago. Wow... Imagine! How one small phone call can change everything. And it seemed that his mum doesn't know about the news yet. My own grandmother passed away last October. And even though I was never closed to her, I still felt a pang of sadness when she passed away. I mean, she was still my grandmother. And funerals make people sad... =(

He called his mum on the phone a short while later to check on her. I could hear her sobbing uncontrollably just by sitting next to him. It must be terrible for her. Even if the person has lived a long and fulfilling life, it hurts no matter what.

I wish I can be there for Cody and his family at this time of their lives. But I don't think I am important or qualified to be that yet. Their having it in their hometown, which is like 5 hours away from here. So even if I wanna go, I can't. I just sincerely hope that the whole family would be okay and although life would be dark especially for Cody's mum, I hope that her wound would heal soon and she'll start feeling sunshine in her life again.


When we are aware that each moment of each day, each gesture and step we take is truly mystical and full of wonder, we will live our lives with greater thought and care. We will also have greater respect and appreciation for the lives of others.
-Daisaku Ikeda-