on death

I received a call from an old friend of mine yesterday. Her mother had died, she told me, crying.

She is my primary school friend and we used to go to each other house. Our friendship deepened in junior high then we parted. We went to different senior high school, then to different countries. We met again when she moved back to Indonesia. I brought my husband and my baby in the womb visiting a pretty, smart, and confident young woman. We met her mom too. Her mom was as pretty as I always remembered her, but she looked frail. Cancer has eaten up her body.

I met them again a month after my baby was born. My friend visited me twice. Then I didn't hear anything from her again till yesterday. Her mother has died the day before and was buried in the morning. She said she was relieved that her mom was now free of pain and suffering, but she still found it hard to accept the loss.

Death always hit the ones left behind. We are left with one empty gaping hole in our lives... Our only comfort is that God has a better place and that we will be united with the person again one day.

Meanwhile, I can only pray that my friend will have enough strength to accept the hard reality. God bless her.