Jiddah was my paternal grandmother. She had a major stroke on Wednesday November 12, 2008 and passed away 3 days later. She was such a loving and beautiful lady whom was loved by most people who knew her.
I have lots of warm memories of the times shared with Jiddah. I can still remember the time when Jiddah playfully chased me on a ‘toy train’ at the Mines Wonderland. I was only about three years old at the time and I was screaming for the train to go faster for I feared that Jiddah could run faster than the train that I rode on. My mum’s family was also with us on that day. We also went on a boat ride down the lake. We even visited the National Zoo but I wonder if either Jiddah or Nenek saw much of the animals at the zoo as they were too busy talking to each other. They were such close friends and always shared never ending stories whenever they met.
We often took Jiddah out whenever she came to Kuala Lumpur or when we were back in Kuala Terengganu. Jiddah enjoyed eating out, visiting friends and relatives and also shopping. Last 2 months during the last week of Ramadhan, we spent a lot of our time in Kuala Terengganu with Jiddah. We broke our fast together at Nenek’s house everyday until the last 2 days of Ramadhan when we broke our fast at Jiddah’s house instead after Jiddah’s other children were back from Kuala Lumpur. As usual, we were the first to be back in Kuala Terengganu for Eid and the last to travel back to Kuala Lumpur.
On the first day of Eid Jiddah would give presents to everybody in our family. Jiddah told mum that she had something very special for me and my sisters. It was indeed a very special gifts for the 3 of us. We each got a very beautiful bracelet and what is even more special about the bracelets are that they are the last gifts from Jiddah.
During the Eid celebration we took Jiddah out to visit our relatives and friends. We also took Jiddah out for lunch on most of the days and I still remember how she enjoyed the food we ate at Kedai Lempeng in Rusila. She really ate a lot that day and that was one of the last meals I shared with Jiddah. And on the night before we traveled back to Kuala Lumpur, she cooked us a delicious ikang singgang that we all ate at Nenek’s house.
I do miss Jiddah very much. However, I am glad that we had shared lots of wonderful times together. I am sad that I did not have the chance to get to know Jaddi (my paternal grandfather). Jaddi passed away when I was just about one year old. Even though I spent a lot of time with him during the last few days of his life during which he was admitted at the Ampang Putri Specialist Hospital, I was too young that I can’t remember anything about it. Jaddi was one of Atuk’s best friend and I’m very glad that my grandparents are such good friends until the end of Jiddah’s and Jaddi’s life.
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