Deferment

I've been meaning to write about this incident but I kept delaying, kept deferring.

Sin Yee wanted to know about hotel rates in Langkawi, so I messaged a family friend in Langkawi, Uncle Morgan, who's in the tourist business. A few minutes later, he replied:

morgan is dead. he passed away a few months ago.

Very funny, I thought. Uncle Morgan always loves to tease me.

So I called up his number - which is actually one of the company's mobile phone numbers given to employees - and a Malay lady answered. I assumed it was his wife, whom I'd met only once. I asked to speak to Uncle Morgan.

She asked me, "Didn't you get my SMS just now?"(sic).

"Yes,I did..." A sick feeling developed in my stomach.

He was really gone, dead, and I didn't even know about it until a few months later. I was too busy with my life to keep in touch with him.

The disbelief and guilt rendered me numb for awhile.

He was unsaved.

How many more people am I going to lose because I'm too busy with my life to spend time with them? How many more loved ones will be gone without me realizing it, or without me spending time with them, just because I fatally assume they'll always be there?

It's okay, I tell myself. I'm busy now. But I'll call them up when I'm free.

But I'll never be free, because there are always a million things to be done. I have to learn to fit them in my life now, or else I'll never have time for them.

I've learnt this lesson the hard way - never wait until tomorrow to spend time with the people you love. They might be gone by then. Cherish life, love people.

Uncle Morgan and I shared the same birth date...