Till Death Us Do Part
This morning I received a call from my eldest sister at about 11am saying that my uncle, who has been hospitalized due to a heart condition, had passed on just half an hour before. I was picked up, after my doctor's appointment at CGH in the afternoon, and headed to the wake.
I learnt from my cousin that my uncle had stayed in the hospital for about 21 months. It sure didn't seem that long since the first time we visited him at his admission to the ICU. The initial astonishment in realising how long it had actually been was quickly superceded by the fact that my aunt (my mom's sister), had been going back and forth the hospital almost everyday to visit and look after my late uncle throughout this period, rain or shine. And it's not like she got to chat with him while she was there because he had been in a semi-conscious state ever since.
My heart goes out to my aunt that she had to go through such a long and tough period in her old age. The journey to and fro must have been a lonely one. The thought of it just makes me wonder what went on in her mind every time she travelled on the bus from her house at Ubi to TTSH and back. After the first few months of my late uncle being in the same condition, how had her expectations evolved. I'm just amazed by her tenacity, endurance and commitment to such a mundane lifestyle including being alone at home, day and night, night and day, and facing the bedridden "head of the household". It's not difficult to imagine how easy it would be for her to become discouraged, despondent with feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.
I can only conclude that I now hold my aunt with respect above the basic level as my elder. Her deep sense of responsibility and her faithfulness towards her late husband gave renewed meaning to the marriage vow, "in sickness and in health, till death us do part". Being non-believers who most probably went through the traditional wedding half a century ago, perhaps those were not the exact words used then. But it does put to shame those who uttered the wedding vows, who chose flight rather than fight at the first sign of trouble or inconvenience. Obviously, for my aunt, flight was never thought of as an option in marriage.
God bless her soul...
I learnt from my cousin that my uncle had stayed in the hospital for about 21 months. It sure didn't seem that long since the first time we visited him at his admission to the ICU. The initial astonishment in realising how long it had actually been was quickly superceded by the fact that my aunt (my mom's sister), had been going back and forth the hospital almost everyday to visit and look after my late uncle throughout this period, rain or shine. And it's not like she got to chat with him while she was there because he had been in a semi-conscious state ever since.
My heart goes out to my aunt that she had to go through such a long and tough period in her old age. The journey to and fro must have been a lonely one. The thought of it just makes me wonder what went on in her mind every time she travelled on the bus from her house at Ubi to TTSH and back. After the first few months of my late uncle being in the same condition, how had her expectations evolved. I'm just amazed by her tenacity, endurance and commitment to such a mundane lifestyle including being alone at home, day and night, night and day, and facing the bedridden "head of the household". It's not difficult to imagine how easy it would be for her to become discouraged, despondent with feeling of helplessness and hopelessness.
I can only conclude that I now hold my aunt with respect above the basic level as my elder. Her deep sense of responsibility and her faithfulness towards her late husband gave renewed meaning to the marriage vow, "in sickness and in health, till death us do part". Being non-believers who most probably went through the traditional wedding half a century ago, perhaps those were not the exact words used then. But it does put to shame those who uttered the wedding vows, who chose flight rather than fight at the first sign of trouble or inconvenience. Obviously, for my aunt, flight was never thought of as an option in marriage.
God bless her soul...
