8th of March 2018, starting my day in a very good mood. Woke up at 7 am, have a little workout time before commuting to my new office. Suddenly, one of my chatting platforms popped notifications. It was such shocking messages, the message told that one of our friend has passed away (I don’t want to say his name, so let’s just call him Bobby). I can’t believe it at first, how come my childhood friend passed away that quickly. But my friend can’t be joking about this. Halfheartedly, I asked how did he know it? He said that one of Bobby’s friend confirmed it with Bobby’s mother. I was okay, feeling nothing but sympathy. The only thing in my mind that I needed to do is to go to the funeral and give support for Bobby’s family. So my ex-dorm friends and I decided to go to the funeral.
9th of March 2018, nothing really happened. It was just a regular day. Stuffs to do at the office. Nothing really happened. We ordered taxi to go to the funeral spot. It took us 2 hours to get there given the damn traffic at Jakarta. We were still okay, doing fine. Then we arrived at the funeral house. We grouped there and decided to enter the funeral service. I did not feel sad at all (you’re a bastard, Galen). It was just plain with lots of sympathy.
Then after the service we decided to queue to express our condolences Bobby’s family. It was okay, until I met his mother.
“Galen……” she cried and hugged me. I really can’t stand her grief. That was when I felt her sorrow, she cried on my arms. I couldn’t stand it, my eyes were teary. I tried to hold back and can’t say anything to her. So I only can say “Aunty, I’m so sorry” she said thank you very much, I went to his father and express my condolence saw his teary eyes, hugged his sister as well. And lastly I saw him in the coffin. I felt emptiness, I lost one of my childhood friend. I didn’t even had the chance to say goodbye to him. He’s on his peaceful state. I started to regret how I haven’t been a really good friend to him. Despite that, I said goodbye to him. It’s still too fast, friend. Too fast, Dude.
On my way back after the funeral, I kept thinking. If I lost my precious ones, I’d be crazy. It was terrible losing your parents. But what was more terrible is when parents have to lost their child, especially moms. It was really terrible, words can not express it. I remembered that one of my pastors said that a mother’s love to her children is the leading expression of how real love is. Unconditional, timeless, and sincere. I saw so many examples of how Mothers in all around the world fight and struggles their live with the only hope to raise her child well. She even can sacrifice herself so that their children can live well.
I guess the recent events made me re-think how much a mother’s love to her child is. Its beyond anything. Unimaginable, unthinkable, and unperceivable. I guess what I was thinking was true. You really can’t understand how much your parents love you until you become a parent yourself.
Suddenly I miss my mother, been thinking how much my mother loves me and how thankful I am for having her (I love you, Mom). So if your mother is still present, embrace her, hug her, kiss her, tell her you love her before everything is too late. Your mother is not perfect, yes she made mistakes, yes she hurts you unintentionally, but she still loves you in a way that you can’t even imagine. No matter how much you love your mother, It won’t be as big as your mother’s love to you. So be thankful, no matter what.
PS: This blog post is dedicated to all moms, you are the real superheroes!
Galen Leslie 