17 December 2020,
Today is Ucu's Birthday.
She would have been 55 years old today but Ucu passed away three months ago on
16 September 2020, leaving behind a husband, two children and her elder sisters and a brother.
Ucu is my father's youngest sibling.
Although she's my Aunty but she's just 12 years older than me, 10 years older than Abang Long and 15 years older than Poji making her like our elder sister.
1980s
When we were children, my siblings were close to Ucu. After her SPM, while waiting for the result, she stayed home with my grandmother and my grandfather, helping them with house chores, cooking and were looking after us, the three siblings.
She taught us to play chess, mastermind, congkak, tengteng and we would lay badminton with her too in the compound of my grandparents'home.
In 1990, Ucu sent me to Victoria Institution on my first day at V. I.
In 1992, Ucu and her husband Pak Usu, would fetched me and Alang after we landed at the Subang Airport from our frequent flights to Kuala Terengganu at that time.
One afternoon, after school, on my way to Kotaraya to take the bus heading home, I bumped into Acik and Ucu at Jalan Sultan and they invited me to join them for lunch at the KFC opposite the Rex cinema.
In January 1995, she and her husband, my Pak Usu fetched me after I attended VI'94 Prom Night..
On 19th July 1995, when I was at the Matriculation Centre of UIA, she came to the hostel after Maghrib to inform me of my father's sudden death. We cried in front of my room and she hugged me. Then, brought me to my grandna's home that night where my father's jenazah was at.
In 1996, Ucu and my Nenek sent me to Subang Airport for my small Hajj to Mecca.
On my Birthday that same year, Ucu gave me a blue Shaeffer pen in a red box with a small card wishing me Happy Birthday. I still keep the pen with the box and the card from 1996 until today. More than 24 years.
In 1997, when I was doing my A-Level at Taylor's College, I was staying with her at her home near SJMC. It was a walking distance from her home to Taylor's College to attend my classes.
March 2003, a month after I arrived in Perth, I received a letter from Ucu saying hi and to ask how I settled in Perth. I still keep her letters.
June 2003, in the evening, I received a phone call from Ucu telling me that my grandmother was very ill. I flew home the next morning.
Now, in 2020, Ucu is no longer with us. Now, only the memories of her lives on.
Happy Birthday Ucu...!
And Al Fatihah
PS:.The next morning on September 17 2020, My grand uncle Tok Ngah, fetched me from The Home to attend Ucu's funeral. Thank you Tok Ngah.
