#1Year

How fast time flies! It's already been a year since we got married.

While going through all the wedding photos to find one that I could safely post on Instagram without annoying my wife (which I obviously failed at but it's too late to un-marry me anyway so too bad), I noticed that some of the people in the photos are no longer with us, so I'd like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to them.

It is by the grace of Allah that all three men above were able to witness our wedding and I am truly grateful for that.

Ah Pek (standing, third from left)

Ah Pek passed away on 11 Feb 2016. Me and my cousins spent our entire childhoods in fear of my mum's eldest brother, But as we grew older, that fear turned to respect. I guess that explains the evolution of what we called him. When we were younger, he was Uncle Patrick. Later on, he became Uncle Pat and finally, all formality flew out the window and he became plain old Ah Pek.

He was family man despite not having a wife or children of his own. His entire house was practically a family shrine with all our graduation and wedding photos. Things won't be the same without him.

My father-in-law, Dato' Kamaruddin Ismail (you know where he is) and Uncle Ei (standing, third from left)

My father-in-law passed away on 17 Jul 2015. In the three months I lived under the same roof as bapak, it's safe to say we adapted to each other's habits. Or, perhaps, it's more accurate to say bapak adapted to my presence. We watched the news together, we watched football together and he even cooked for me at times (!). It didn't take him long to figure out what I liked and disliked but what I truly respect him for is his acceptance of my lazy ass habit of waking up at noon every weekend.

I always thought it was a bit funny that he'd catch me skulking around the kitchen for food at noon on weekends and wish me good morning,

Uncle Ei passed away on 16 Jan 2016, he reminds me a bit of Uncle Pat in the sense that exuded a natural air of authority that made people want to respect him. I never got to know him that well and it was only towards the end that we were able to have proper conversations with to each other. It would have been nice to have known him better.

So that's three people who are no longer with us. I wish they were still around but like the saying goes, God had other plans for them. It's a good reminder for all of us to always seize the moment because you can never tell what is going to happen tomorrow.

Anyway, that's the first 365 done and dusted. Here's to many more