expiration date 

quoting from Aldo, “two weddings and a funeral”, is the title of this post.

i’m currently sitting in Executive Lounge of Garuda Indonesia. it’s a long story, but i don’t usually fly with Garuda Indonesia because i don’t like their airline food. and i don’t usually sit in executive lounges because i can’t afford plane tickets but economy class.

two days ago, as i walked out of Sushi Tei for lunch, i got a phone call from my mother, crying. she said, my uncle Stanny has passed away. at first, i thought i misheard due to the static connection. but then i realized that the sound that i thought sound of static was actually the sound of my grandmother bawling in the background.

two hours later, ari and i were in Changi Airport, running from one counter to another looking for the earliest flight i could hop on. i tried the budget airlines, but their earliest flight is about 3 hours later. after waiting in stand-by, i finally boarded Garuda’s flight, which was the quickest one leaving from the airport. i bought the round-trip ticket with an open return date. that’s how i ended up with Garuda. ari didn’t go with me, because we didn’t have time to think about where to leave Koda.

as soon as i arrived at the Cengkareng Airport in Jakarta, i met up with Adi — who is Noushka’s boyfriend. Noushka is the daughter of the deceased. all my family has left to Bandung, the city where Uncle Stanny passed away. the wake and the funeral will be done in Bandung, not in Jakarta. so, i bummed a ride with Adi and his friends to Bandung, who are also on their way to go to the funeral.

at 9PM, i was sitting next to my uncle’s body, next to all the family whose eyes are all swollen due to crying, in Bandung… it’s pretty crazy considering that i was still in Singapore at 2:00PM, having lunch and thinking of what to cook tonight.

this month on May 13, i was in Bandung for a totally different reason: ari and i went to attend Alfa and Aldo’s wedding. during this trip, i get to see uncle Stanny’s new home which he just built. it was the same home where the wake was done.

in May 27th, my brother and fenny got married. ari and i couldn’t make it due to some personal reasons, but i was very happy to see the photos on Alfa’s site. but even before i get to hear the fun happy stories of the wedding party from my brother and fenny, the news of my uncle passed away — 4 days after the wedding — threw everything off-balance. so, yeah…

in May 31st, my uncle passed away. that night, when all the family sat around the house of the deceased, Aldo said, “it’s two weddings and a funeral”…

yesterday was his funeral. the little house he built couldn’t contain the flow of people arriving from many different cities to show their condolences. i think it showed how much he was loved. it makes me happy and sad at the same time.

i personally have so many memories with him that could make me cry all nights and days. one that stood out among the rest was that he was the only father figure i had in my wedding in Singapore, as my own father refused to come.

i left Bandung to go back to Jakarta last night, along with my parents, uncles, aunties and grandmother. at my parents’ apartment, i could finally catch up some sleep. this morning, i woke up at noon.

now i’m in the airport, waiting for the plane to carry me back to Singapore. the flight to singapore is so full, that i had to jump from one stand-by list to another. after going through 2 waiting lists with no result, i had enough. i went to upgarde counter and purchased a seat to business class. i still have to wait another 2 hours, but that’s fine. i get to write this entry in the Executive Lounge of Garuda Indonesia.