My Grandma's Passing (Part 3)

This would be the final day we would say our goodbyes to grandma.

I woke up with a heavy heart and a tired body. As usual, I went on ahead to make the last deposit of the wake and returned to find everyone getting ready for the last rites and prayers before sending grandma to the crematorium.

Many would turned up to pay their last respects and there were two big-head dolls who would dance to appease and humour grandma. We would then last make our last prayers to grandma before, again, kneeling down and crying out to grandma before her coffin was loaded unto the hearse.

The funeral uncle in charge then instructed Dad, myself, Mum and Iris to begin pushing the hearse as we make the last journey with grandma to Mandai crematorium. As we began to move out, I specifically noticed a butterfly flying over the hearse into the space as we walked on. About fifty minutes later, Dad was asked to kneel by the roadside and cried out to grandma as the hearse passed by.

Somewhere down a few hundred metres later, we were told to board the coaches as we were to cease the last walk with the hearse. Mum, Iris and I hurriedly went to our car in our wake clothing, and putting on my boat shoes, I drove down with a burdened heart and tired and exhausted, none of us really spoke in the car and we quietly drove to the crematorium.

We arrived first in the crematorium hall where the last rites and prayers would take place and walked the last time around grandma's coffin. Minutes later, we were ushered into the viewing hall where we knew we would see grandma's coffin the very last time before it would be sent into the furnace.

Dad carefully carried grandma's portrait into the viewing room, and all of grandma's daughters stood with us in the front viewing row. Sobs begun to creep into the quiet room and as soon as we see grandma's coffin being wheeled onwards, sobs turned into loud wailing and tears begun to flow.

I hugged Dad from behind when I heard him cried (for only the second time in my entire life) and before long, we waved goodbye to grandma's coffin as it was sent into the furnace. Our hearts sank and none of us were consolable. When all was finished, we were again ushered into another bigger space to return our mourning pins and washed ourselves up.

We made our way back to the Yishun temple where grandma's tablet would reside for the next hundred days. The rest, meanwhile, would return wake at the void deck and have a late lunch and finished off from there. I drove Dad and Mum back to Sembawang before Iris and I returned back home wearied and tired from an eventful Friday.

Sunday would come by very fast and we would make our way back to Mandai crematorium to collect grandma's ashes. All of grandma's children, including Iris, my sister and family, would drop in a coin as symbol of luck would pick one of grandma's remains into the urn before it would be sealed up.

Dad then carefully carried grandma for one last time under a wooden umbrella and hopped into my car, where I drove grandma to the Yishun columbarium. For the first time, we saw grandpa's niche which was nicely located in the middle with a great view on the very first block.

There, a contractor explained to us that he would need to open up grandpa's niche to examine his urn and determine if grandma's urn would fit in together with grandpa's. It turned out that grandpa's urn was larger and had to be transferred to a small urn.

We were however rather surprised when grandpa's urn was opened up and we saw almost a full urn of grandpa's ashes. Similar to grandma's ashes, we each put in a coin and transferred grandpa's ashes in his new urn. Then, together with grandma's urn, both of their urns were placed side by side in the niche, and a new niche tablet has been crafted earlier to reflect both grandpa's and grandma's names on the original grandpa's niche.

Over the next few multiple of seven days, we would gather at grandma's tablet at the Yishun temple to pay our respect to her. In fact, the last of the seven times seven days after grandma's death was to be 1st of October 2017, where grandma would continue to rest at the temple for a year before finally moving to the columbarium to be rested with grandpa.