death

today, i send words of encouragement to dan. it was the funeral of his dad and i wanted to boost his morale at the time of the cremation. not too long after that, as i scrolled my friend list in my phone, i learned that another friend's dad had passed away exactly a month ago. i felt the immediate need to send my condolences to him. he was, after all, someone whom i had been rather close to in the mid-90s. and after that, for unknown reasons, i decided to check the status update page in my facebook, just to find out that another friend's mum passed away yesterday. 

it was uncanny. i do not usually scroll my friend list nor check my friend's status updates in facebook. and i don't know what came over me, as i composed my messages to these friends, i felt a lump in my throat and i teared a little. maybe it's becos i learned of the news altogether and the magnitude of it affected me. i could almost feel their pains as they mourn their loss. much as i have learned to better celebrate life than to mourn death, it still hits me when it happens. death, just like birth, is a reality and we must not be consumed by it when it comes.

i wish my friends strength during this moment of grief.