Things have happened over the past few weeks, the biggest of which is the passing of my mother-in-law.
She passed away early on Good Friday, 30th March 2018, in Singapore. It was in a way expected, as in she had been in and out of hospital several times in the past year and had various complex health issues.
But it did happen quickly. i got the call saying she was being taken to the hospital and then an hour later, another call to say she had passed.
It was harder for my poor husband who had to hear about it the moment he got off a 10-hour flight.
We quickly got organised. i am very grateful that T’s teacher was hard working enough to be checking his emails on a holiday weekend and we got leave from his school to go to the funeral. We flew out the next day. Thank God we got seats on a very full flight.
The funeral went well, as far as one can say that of a funeral. It was a sad time, yet at the same time, there was a sense of relief because she is in a better place and would not have to be taking all those numerous meds and going to various doctors’ appointments and be going in and out of hospital.
My relationship with my mother-in-law did not start out in the best way. In the beginning, she did not think i was good enough for her son and to be part of her family. But over the years, she had come to accept me. She mellowed out and we found a way to get along.
So while we have had our difficulties, as i have found out more about her and got to know her more, i have come to respect her as a woman who had to make good of some bad situations and she handled them as best as she could, at that time. i had also come to realise that these bad experiences in her life made her a very defensive person and she also held onto some of these hurts for a long time.
Even though she had done and said things i don’t agree with, i do believe she had done her very best as a wife, a mother, a mother-in-law and a grandmother. And unusually for a woman of her generation, she was very verbally expressive of her love to family, especially to her grandsons.
So for all that, i thank her. LaiLai, rest in peace.
syc
trippingdifferently 