Life, love, and death

I had a potluck dinner on Saturday evening with a bunch of my army mates over at my place. Elaine was spotting her engagement ring (I haven’t seen them in a long time), and Ying Ying made Chew tell us the story about how he popped the question. So romantic…

He had to get the permission from the father first as they had not been on good terms. Her father had always been against them seeing each other because theirs was a proud Cantonese family and Chew was but a son of a fishmonger, but after all these years, and with Chew now successful as an electronics engineer, the father agreed to talk to Chew and gave the go ahead. So he shopped for a ring with her brother and then waited for the opportunity. To keep the surprise, he chose the date of his birthday and brought her to near VJC where they used to hang out when they first met 10 years ago.

The ring box was stuck in his jeans so he pretended that he needed to pee to take it out. She even kept a lookout for him! Then he told her: “I’d like to sing you a song”. He sang “I want to grow old together with you” and popped the question. I’m very proud and happy for Chew.

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That Saturday was also the day I found out that one of my choir members had passed away suddenly. A newspaper report on his death appeared today. He was only 29 years ago and had gotten married 1 ½ years ago, leaving his wife. Apparently they had gone for a routine jog, and then got back to their void deck where he collapsed. He is in my mind an ever jovial and ever friendly person. He is thus far the closest person I know that has died. I don’t really know how to feel about it yet actually. I’ll be singing at his funeral mass this afternoon.

Well, love and marriage, life and death - three stories for you to think about.