My Own Happiness Project

My Own Happiness Project
because happiness begins inside and flows out...

20080415

a tribute to the sii family.....

I'M GOING TO REALLY MISS YOU GUYS!!!!

Yesterday I received a news that almost went past me, and if I were not to know about it until it's too late, I'd probably hate myself for having such a short antenna... you see, Paulus and Jo are migrating to Australia, and of course Joshua and Claire too... I went speechless for a while when I found out, almost lost and have to take a while to recompose myself before throwing a tantrum for being told so late...

Well, I'm kidding about the tantrum part, but I was sad... emotional even, and while alone in the clinic (thankfully) I was actually teary.... no, if you're wondering, teary is not the same as crying... it's a much more macho version of crying... hehehe.. but teary I did.

Migration sounds so final... so conclusive... so never-coming-back... well, I'm definitely being over-dramatic, but if you've known the family like I did, you'd probably understand what I am going through...

I've known Jo and Paulus ever since I got baptised, joined Lifeline Youth Ministry and saw through their wedding day. Their personalities are a clear testimony to the fact that 2 identical piece of jigsaw will not fit into each other, and they can tell you so much about holding a marriage together, about giving & taking and about true love bearing all. They were there through one of the biggest crisis in my life, and though I may not be ready to talk about that here, it's enough to say that when I could not even pray, they were the words and directions that helped me through that difficult patch.

Joshua came at the most God-incidental time as well, when I was lost in faith, and at the same time needed a baby to follow up through 2 years of my continuous Paediatrics assessment. Bound to the assignment, I had to keep constant contact with them so I can chart Josh's growth and write a report on it. At the same time, I was also lured back to church. How convenient, God! But that was one of the best blessing in disguise I've ever gotten. I was given pretty good marks for my report on Josh.

I remember one time when Jo was busy at the Youth Ministry and Paulus had to do something, so I offered to carry Joshua. He was irritable at that time, but after a while he fell asleep on my shoulder (probably too tired already)... That was the first time I had a baby sleeping in my arms and the calmness of the rhythmic breathing of a sleeping baby is just so therapeutic... good for the heart and soul.

Twice I had to babysit Joshua to let the parents to have a Valentine's Day out. First was with Sheena on a night, and we spent the whole evening watching Prince of Egypt (which Josh pronounce as Gygypt). The second was with Mirina, on a day trip to AmCorp Mall -- also on a Valentine's Day -- to have McD. What melted my heart most at that time was, at the bookshop Josh would randomly bring me a book and ask me to read to him - I think i read like 4-5 book within that time. After putting the last book away, he came back to me, gave me a big hug on my leg (I was standing up and didn't notice him) and said "Uncle Rorry, I love you!" (now everybody... aaaawwwwwwww........., yea, he used to call me "uncle rorry")

I blushed! and stammered through a reply "I -- lo -- love you -- too!" Hahahahhaha.... silly.

The euphoria stayed the whole day, the feeling was like better than winning a jackpot -- until Jo had to rain on my parade, telling me that he says that to every other people that's been nice to him... Aaarrrggghhh, what a big burst to my pride... I thought I was THE ONLY ONE!!!

And for his 6th birthday, I was fortunate enough to be around (yep, I was the fortunate one!) so I could bring him out for a movie. We watched Happy Feet, and throughout the show he went on with his running commentaries of the show, and real-time questioning on parts he couldn't understand. I had to hush him a few times because he was competing with the Dolby Stereo Surround Sound System to be heard.

Claire was born right in the year I had to come back to KK after finishing my studies, so I was not elected to become her Godpa because of the distance. But when I came for a visit when she was 1 year old, I remembered getting her a doll with big curly hair (which people aptly named Anne Doll for obvious reason) when she first saw it she was afraid of it (Anne Doll was this lanky doll with really long skinny arms and legs) but later warmed up to it, to my relief...

There was then a big gap between my visits and when I saw her again, she could already talk! There was once in church when I sat with the family, and Claire came to ask her big brother:

Claire: (whispering loudly) What is Uncle Roddy's name?
Josh: Uncle Roddy's name is Uncle Roddy lah!

And I will miss the cuteness of her morning prayer that the parents taught her... On the way to school she would recite a prayer in the car, and she was giving thanks to God for everything, among others - the flowers on the roadside. Now if that is not cute, I don't know what else is.

There were a few times I followed to send them off to school, and during one of those times she was negotiating with her big brother:

Josh: Later I want to hold Uncle Roddy's hand.
Claire: (parroting Josh) I also want to hold Uncle Roddy's hand...
Josh: I hold this hand and you hold this hand okay...
Claire: Okay... (again, everybody... aaaawwwwww........)

Now tell me, is it too much to be teary when they're all going away to live in another country for good?

2 comments:

KaDusMama said...

:( I become teary eyes myself after reading ur post..Don't worry, you still can meet them thru online, but i'm sure the feeling will be different

ARTEo said...

hehe... thanks kadusmama... they've been more than friends, they're like family... this weekend i'm going over to KL and will be seeing them before they go off... this is surely the end of an era...

sniff...