Words for future references

England just won 2–0 against Germany quarter-finals and I am pumped! I’ve always naturally supported England but been let down repeatedly for the past — I don’t know 20 years? I stopped putting much hope on them.

Anyway amidst all the excitement, I went on Facebook and actually bothered scrolling and I came across a university friend, he died of cancer earlier this year. It was a post, tagged by his wife. She had given birth to his son two weeks back, she shared photos of gifts friends had sent over. I scrolled his page further and felt overwhelmed by how friends have not stopped sharing his memories and stories. He was a good person.

His wife announced the birth of his third son with the words “Amanah arwah terakhir” — somebody be chopping onions here. In another post where she had tagged him, it was their eldest son’s birthday, she states “our eldest, the only one who managed to experience the love and affection of his father and remember every little thing about it” — be grabbing some tissues now.

Scrolled further and there numerous posts by him, surely when he was healthy, just photos and captions talking to his two sons. How he felt about their arrival, what they did together, the emotions he felt about them. His words were immortalised. His kids could read it in the future and know how much their father loved them. His posts are like letters to his children, how he loved them and a constant reminder of how we are all living on borrowed time.

I don’t post much on how I feel about my kids but rest assured I love them. Now I feel the need to write them these letters, assurance that they are perfect just the way they are and how they are loved by their parents and so many others. Maybe in physical journals.