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from: In Loving Memory of Thaddeus Cheong

"thad was my best friend, my training partner, my source of inspiration. we did everything together. overseas races and trips, fishing trips, movie dates, dinner/lunch dates. everything and anything. you shithead. beat me to heaven. you said we'll be there for each other, through thick and thin. now you pang se me. i'm gonna box you the next time i see you. oh man thad. remember the shit we pulled in our trips? yeah. kukup and afamosa was like one of the best! how we pulled each other during training? yeah? and i still owe you $20. hope you're not taking interest, cos i'm gonna be broke if you do that. remember our last fishing trip? on monday 18jun? we were like baking ourselves lah. helping each other rub tanning oil on each other's back. making the deck all so oilly!! and you! stupid. played with my cube with your oily hands. well, i placed that cube in your coffin. burnt it with you. take good care of it okay?? cos when i join you, i also wanna play with it! and guess what? we were supposed to watch transformers today.. and i did! i got 2 tickets! one for you, one for me. hope you enjoyed it. the story line was okok. but the special effects were great! well, the last show we officially watched was ocean 13 with pat remember? and we were supposed to watch fan4 on father’s day but you had some lunch in the end:( thad i'll always remember you as my best friend, my brother. you better keep fit in heaven, cos our race for sea games aint over yet." - dexter

Grief... a real process to go through at the loss of someone dear.

Hope... of a reunion in eternity that's assured, though can't be seen for now but by faith.

I remember Blenheim, who went with the Lord at a tender age of 19 in 2005.

There's Samuel, the sec 4 boy from St. Hilda's who was taken home last September.

Memories may fade but legacies get passed on.

Blenheim, Samuel, Thaddeus... they all have something in common.

At such tender ages, it may sound as a consolation that their "work is complete" here on earth. But there is nothing further from this truth, no matter how much it sounds like a consolation.

They were ordinary teenagers with the same kind of stresses and struggles thrown at them in their teenage life. Even in their walk with God, I'm sure they'd experienced the ups and downs but nonetheless a real and living relationship.

But look at the legacies and impacts they'd made within their circles of friends and beyond.

And the hope is that they're all home.

And one day I will be too. Same goes for the rest of my family... my brothers and sisters whom I've come to know so dearly as well.

All back home with the One who loves us the most, with one another who believed.

Till then, may we all continue to live our lives to the fullest, passing it on all that we've received.