That Sinking Feeling

Because I live on a walled and guarded campus, I'm not super close with my Indonesian neighbors. I do however know a few of them. And every time my street is closed for a funeral, I wonder if it's someone I know. So far it hasn't been.

Today, as I was driving home from church, the street was blocked off and a black flag was waving - the sign that somebody has died. I stopped at the road blocked sign and looked down the street to try and see which house it was that was having a funeral. The road curves slightly, so it was hard to tell, but it looked like everyone was standing in front of a house at the very far end of the street - the house of someone I know. My heart sank a little bit.

I quick drove to a parallel road so I could come around a back way to the other end of the closed road. Sure enough - it was the house of someone I know. In fact, it was the house of someone I introduced YOU to not so long ago. Remember the story of the guy whose picture I took? If not, click HERE.

Yup, it was his house. I wasn't sure if it was him or his wife who had died though. Knowing Muslim law, they were probably already burying the body, so I drove around the corner to the graveyard. Sure enough, a crowd was there. Several men were standing by the road, so I drove up and quietly asked them if it was Bapak (the man) or Ibu (the woman). One guy said, "yes". Another guy said, "Ibu". The rest just looked at me like I was crazy. So I said thank you and drove away.

It was grandmother. I only met her once. I don't even know her name. But I love how crazy about her husband she was. How she marveled at how handsome he was in every picture I showed her. Even though I'm pretty sure the woman couldn't see a thing. And I'm sad she's gone. And I'm sad that grandfather doesn't have her anymore. And I'm also sad that because of their faith, grandfather doesn't know if he'll ever see her again.



EDIT - Immediately after writing the above post, I had to leave again. On my way to town, I stopped to buy phone minutes from a neighbor that sells them from his house. However, the guy who usually sells them to me was at the funeral, but his wife assured me he would be home soon. So I hung around a minute, and as promised, he was there quickly. As he worked on transferring minutes to my phone, I said, "So grandmother died, huh?" And he replied, "Oh, no, it wasn't her. Grandmother and grandfather are healthy as can be. Their 40 year old daughter died. Their second child." I was SHOCKED. So I asked how she died. The guy started LAUGHING as he told me that she got hit by a vegetable truck last night. LAUGHING. Oh, my...