in the twinkling of an eye, a year has passed. a year since that fateful evening, a year since my world would never be the same again. many things have happened, but i still miss you. i vividly remember hearing the cruel news on channel newsasia. i fell back on the sofa like a punch had been delivered. then i waited for the camera crew to turn up and tell i'd been punk'd or something (yes i know i am no celebrity but thats not the point). when nothing came, it started to sink in and i started shaking my head. no. no. it can't be. but it could. and it did. nothing was accomplished at school the next day. everybody waited for you to appear round the corridor and yell at us for being such slugs. but you never came. and the devastating news came when we were about to leave. many worlds crashed. but it didn't seem like your way of doing things. you never left without a reason, without a purpose, without an agenda. at your columbarium today, reflecting on the past year, it seems you did have an agenda for leaving. like what miss wee said, "wo men hen cong ming dan si lan dao yao ming". we seemed more concerned about memorising every detail of orchard road than about our o levels. nothing seemed to be able to get us moving. you did it. thru your passing, you spurred us on. almost everybody in the level made the declaration of taking the o's seriously from that moment on. it was as if you had it all planned. that you knew your passing on would do the trick. that seemed much more like your style of doing things. and come febuary this year, there were smiles all around, just like how i imagine you would have wanted it to be. all that was missing was your principal's address. it wasn't the same seeing some weird woman we've never seen before talking to us. but i know you were smiling with us. we always laughed at you for stretching everything to its maximum capacity. our socks, the school funds, everything. even your passing. you used it as a spur to egg us on. to which i can only say, thank you. thank you for every single thing you've done for the school. for every ounce of effort you have put in. the list will never end. i cannot say eough thank yous, but thank you. we seldom/never saw eye to eye, but i cannot help but love you for everything you did for us, and for the school. i love you mrs lee.


and the baton is on to you sec 3s. finish the race, and finish it well. because soon, nobody will be doing it "for mrs lee" anymore. let her live on in your hearts.

scribbled
10:13 PM