Daddy, Brother, Lover & Little Boy

I was just stepping out of the shower when my younger sister Nurul looked at me in shock, with tears in her eyes and said that Diana, our cousin, had just passed on due to a road accident in Johor Bahru. Quickly, I texted Chee Wai and Limin and cancelled our dinner appointment.

You know, at this age, we are used to having our old folks pass on due to ill health and old age but to receive news of our family, relatives and friends whose young lives had been cut short so abruptly and without warning - the realisation of one's own mortality is quite disturbing indeed. Although personally, I do not have a mortal fear of death itself - my heart goes out to those who have to go through the experience of losing their loved ones. Especially the old parents who have their children go before them.

Cousin Noor Ardiana Binte Rahmad was just 27 and she had a promising future as a teacher in Rulang Primary School, if I am not mistaken. It was just a few months back that I sat in her pretty purple Suzuki Swift when we met during another of our female cousin's wedding. Although she is not related to me by blood because her widowed father married my aunt, I still feel the deep loss because Diana appeared to be a filial daughter, smart, relatively successful and I remembered that she always had a smile on her face. In fact, a few days ago I was just thinking of her and how maybe I could get her to help me purchase creative software and get an education rate for it.

I called my cousin Arman and he was still reeling in shock and sounded like he was crying uncontrollably, the poor guy. He and his father were on the way to Sultan Aminah Hospital to claim the body and meet with Diana's boyfriend and I can't imagine how the boyfriend must feel. To make matters worst, I personally thought that Diana had suffered extensive and ultimately fatal injuries but when I heard that apparently she only had serious injuries on one of her arms and had died due to an immense loss of blood, alledgedly because the ambulance was delayed, I was almost very angry that her life perhaps could have been saved if not for probable incompetency and human error.

Well, no matter how we look at it - life is but short and unpredictable. One day you can be at the beach suntanning and sipping on Long Island Tea  and wondering if life could get any better and then the next moment, a tsunami can hit you and end your life just like that. People who are even known to be young, fit and healthy can just about drop dead in the middle of a healthy activity, like many seemingly healthy soccer players just suddenly collapse on the field and die, young and healthy NSFs on a routine route march, runners running competitively and really so many others.

It makes you truly wonder about the value of life and the value of your priorities.

Dear cousin Diana, I may not have been very close to you but I hope that you are in a happier place now and be with your mum finally too. I will remember you in my prayers and will remember your beautiful smile, always.