me and Erlyne are listening to elvis song"always on my mind" at rancamaya tonite friday sept 24 2010 and we were gratefull remembering all the things that you have given to us. you gave us so much,educations,guidance and wealth. you made us who we were today.we love you and want you to know that we will always love you.

Papi has been gone for five years now and I still miss him so much. When I think about him, I think about family. How he liked to talk to us his children, how he liked to talk and explained things to Mami, and how happy he was when his siblings were around. One of my childhood memories is of Papi talking to Mami, explaining business to her, discussing Chinese movies we just watched together, talking about our relatives etc. Although Mami never said it, she must have missed him a lot. I tried to visit Mami often after Papi passed away, but I dont think my company is anywhere as enjoyable as Papi's was. My wife also told me that she also missed Papi. She said she missed his story telling. Papi liked to tell stories, especially about ancient China and Chinese cultures. He and Mami used to go with their friends on tours and his friends would call him 'Professor' as he would explain to them history of the places they went. Perhaps better than the tour guides. I miss Papi for how he kept us together. When he was around, we almost always gathered at least every Sundays. We would eat together and he never missed his grandchildren's birthdays. I learned shipping business from Papi. I remember even when I was still in university, whenever I came home for summer holidays, i would listen to him and my older brother talked about business during dinners. Somehow I always knew that i wanted to join him in the shipping business. Although Mami was reluctant about me joining him after graduation, I did anyway and I am glad for it. It gave me a chance to work with him, to know him better as a person and as a businessman. And whatever i have achieved now in my shipping business, is largely due to him. I also remember his generosity. Not soon after I joined him in the shipping business, he would give some of his shares to me and my brother. When we asked him, he said it was for us to keep our loyalties to the company. he didnt have to do it. Many parents waited until they die to share their fortunes with the children. Papi didnt. He also arranged to buy me a house when I got married. It was a nice house and it would cost him dearly. One thing I learned from him was that he never brought this up. I am sure there were times when I made him unhappy or offended him, but never once did he remind me of his gifts - how could I be so ungrateful after the things he gave me. Not only did he bless me with his gifts, but more importantly, he taught me the virtue of givings. When you give to someone you love, you dont look back. Something that I am still learning. I also still need to learn from how he treated his siblings. Not only was he close to his siblings, he was also close to his siblings' spouses. He was also close to Mami's siblings. To some of them, he provided jobs. Until he passed away, he maintained this relationship. if there were few relatives who disliked him, it was because of his sons' doings. but he never blamed us for it. I miss him for how he enjoyed his food, i miss him for all those sate padangs that he took me and my brother and sisters to, i miss him for the late supper he and mami took us after chinese movies, I miss him for his laughters when he was with his families. But I know he is already in a better place and I am very grateful to have had him.

Every holiday I had, opa and I would usually go out at afternoons to have a late lunch or have brunch. He would take me to new places or just to eat at our favorite restaurants. Every waitress in every restaurant recognized him and always said "sama cucu ya pak..." and he always replied yes and gave them the happiest smile. however,i was only around 10 or 11 that time,and every time we ate, we rarely spoke to each other. It was rather awkward not speaking to each other but I felt grateful to have a wonderful grandfather. We went to shabu shabu house ex once every week for 3 weeks. I remembered because we always walked from plaza Indonesia to ex, and ate hotdogs at dairy queen first. we always had the same hotdog. triple cheese hotdog.we both loved it and we ended up having a mess. then we would walk around ex first, (as it was new at the time) and after we looked here and there, we would go straight to shabu shabu house. For quite some time, we went out for lunch every day and at dinner we didn’t eat too much. We went to places only once except for shabu-shabu house and hotdogs at dairy queen. For example, kirishima at gran melia, spagethi house at ps, and manya other places.everytime he asked me he would say "ver...Opa lagi mau makan (....) nanti ada les?yoo lekas loo ganti baju temen opa yuukk" I always remember his face asking me this. if I had lessons later that afternoon, we would go somewhere not far away from home. I don't know whether he sensed something, or felt something, but at our last lunch, we were both craving for steak at angus house. and he asked for the last time,"ver..ga ada les kan?lekas ganti baju yuk opa mau makan di angus house...” it was early february,1 or 2 days before he left for the last time to Singapore. he looked worried, sad that day. but he ate a lot, and we were both satisfied I can tell. after the day he left, a few weeks later, my mom got a phone call from dad george."tekanan darah opa naik".somehow,we packed our bags and bought plane tickets at the airport.we arrived there,and rushed to the hospital.everyone said "lucy,val,try not to cry in front of opa".but as I walked in and saw opa,i said "opa..hui-hui disini,opa cepet sembuh" and he smiled as he saw me,and nodded giving us a serious look,and smiled again.opa asked a lot about what time it is and always asked to go home. His hands were always warm, as we all took turns holding his right hand, oma always held his left hand.we stayed there for a week, stayed in an apartment behind wisma atria.everyday we went to the hospital, and waited.i slept there only once. 2 days before we went home,sakopo and sikopo came there.it was really a moment where everyone cried.sakopo heard bad news from ieie i remembered,and she started to say while crying "dju....cpt sembuh lah dju.....jangan dju..." everyone tried to calm her down,but everyone also started crying. after we went home, for a couple of days, mom went back.i stayed home with mbak sar.on April 1st,it was april fools day.it was devastating at school as i was the one being poked around,and made fun of.at home,after i finished all my school work,i was reminiscing the jokes at school,it was actually quite funny.at around 7 (or 8?) pm i got a phone call from mom.she called everyday and I thought it was a normal phone call.i was in my room with mbak sar (not the person i wanna be with at the time,but she was supportive.mbak iyem was in spore ) and picked up the phone.mom said.. "Val, how are you? Val, sekarang...opa udah ga ada..opa udh mninggal..." and all i said was, "apa??boong.haa????" we were on the phone for 3 short minutes and after i put the phone down,i told mbak sar.she hugged me back and said "tabah ya val..tabah" and she gave me loads of tissue. I called ci sharlene at once, and we cried and cried and cried and analyzed what the hell just happened.it was april fool's day and we thought it was a prank the parents made to us.but it was just to mean.at the time i had no idea what happened to opa, but ci sharlene said "my dad said something is eating his lungs". they all got back the next day.and we were all wearing white shirts and black pants.we waited at the airport and when i saw my mom,she ran and we ran and we hugged and we cried.it was hard,as i rarely speak to him,or know more about him. 3 rooms were set for opa at atma jaya.it was covered with white sheets, and tons of food and flowers. it smelled of pandan leaves and jasmine.ci noni wasn't there. There were a lot of people, everyone dear to opa's heart. Our families from malaysia, singapore and medan came to jakarta, to say goodbye.the hardest part from all of this was, when they had to close opa's coffin.it was the last time i would see his face aside from pictures. We buried him at rancamaya the next day and all of his grandchildren decorated his grave with beautiful flowers. I remember i finished almost one box of tissue because i was crying so much for the week. teachers asked me to share how i felt about all of this the next day at school and i said "i will miss him so dearly but i know he is watching me"