Lim Boon Teck. Born on 20th January, 1933, today would've been my grandfather's 66th birthday. But he had passed on on Tuesday, 15th March, 2005. May he rest in peace... Amen!
He has been appearing in my dreams a lot lately for the past week. I'm not sure what it means - if it's supposed to mean anything at all. Is it a sort of sign? I mean, is he trying to tell me something in my dreams or maybe I'm just missing him too much? I'm not sure if "we were close" are the right words but he had always been there for me ever since I was born. And yet, I don't know much (or more like I don't know anything at all) about him. This is all I can remember bout him:
My grandfather was a good man. I don't know much about him but I think he was originally from Tutong. He speaks Malay and Hokkien fluently. I know he used to play either billiards or pool frequently before he got stroke because I found cue sticks in his drawers when we were in our old home at Chempaka Park. He used to drive a white car with maroon interior which was very comfortable. And it had a nice old car smell too. I don't remember what his job was but I know he was really keen on getting better when he got stroke cos he was always exercising every day until he fell down. My parents would get mad at him for that cos falling could have made his situation worse. Oh, and it was really funny when my youngest brother was naughty and my grandfather would go to him with a cane in his hand. And my youngest brother would say "Mai, mai! Wa mai!" ("Don't want, don't want! I don't want!"). My family would just laugh whenever that happened cos my youngest brother just sounded so cute!
I also remember that whenever I got home from school at 12:45pm, my grandfather would be sitting in the living room downstairs, watching TV. And he would pass me the controller so that I could watch the last 15 minutes of Oprah while having lunch. He would get me Yakult, peach yogurt and other things that I liked whenever he got to town on Sunday or when we went for groceries shopping at Hua Ho. He used to help me rub my belly when I had stomachache and placed cold towel (or the thing that you stick to your head when you have a fever) on my head. He also used to rub some green colored Chinese medicine whenever I got bruised.
Usually when I got up in the morning to prepare for school, I would say "Good morning" and "Goodbye" to my grandfather before I left for school. But I didn't talk to him at all on the day he left us cos I was still mad at my sister for something she did the night before. And I really regret it would have been my last conversation with him.
I remember receiving the horrible news when my Mom called me while I was having my Business Studies class. I was devastated and couldn't help crying in class as well as to get home immediately.
And what I really regret most is that I lost the bear's claw which belonged to him. I always carried it with me in my wallet ever since he was gone. But then, MS Sports Day came and I was stupid enough to trust my bag with a friend. Unfortunately for me, she had to leave before the event ended and left my bag unattended. When I got to my bag, my wallet was gone and so was the bear's claw. Thankfully, I had my ID and my money in my track pants at the time, but still...
Despite not being able to get to know my grandfather as well as I should've, I really do miss him. After all, like I said before, he had always been there for me since I was born. Once again, may he rest in peace... Amen!
p/s: I know it happened a long time ago, but if any of you see a bear's claw (I think it was a thumb as it was pretty big, probably as big as a normal business card?) could you please let me know?
