heartfelt goodbye to my dear friend.
4 July 1982 - 13 September 2005
As I flipped over to The Straits Times of page 3, one of the headlines says, 'Soldier dies after collapsing in camp.' The first line of the paragraph read "Third Sergeant Perry Koh Han Min became the third sudden death fatality in the Singapore Arm Forces (SAF) since June... he collapsed playing street soccer at his camp." The words Perry Koh Han Min came across very familiar to me, I was hoping that it would not be my friend; hoping that it might be someone else with the same name. I read on further into the article to gather more details of this person, and as much as I do not want it to be true, he is my friend. To further confirmed this report, I flipped to the obituary section and I found 3 obituaries of him. Tears just started rolling down my cheeks. I did not know what else I can do, so I distracted my grief by playing games for a couple of hours. When I was lying on my bed, I was feeling terrible because he was gone. And I was left alone to reminisce the memories we once shared.
Perry was a sporty and healthy young man, who enjoyed the outdoors and riding his bike. What happened to him? Why did he just collapsed and died? I feel really sorry for his mother, as she had already lost her husband years ago and now she had to lose her 23 year old son. I also feel sorry for Samantha, Perry's girlfriend of about 3 years. Having been together for a number of years, and having to lose him all of a sudden; it must be very hard to let him go.
I remembered, it was May 13th, 2001, Mother's Day that I met Perry at Raffles Town Club. I was doing my F&B practical attachment for my Shatec course, while he was there having a Mother's Day lunch with his mother and his relatives. I was handing out Carnation flowers to all the mothers who were dining at the club's poolside cafe. Perry and I exchanged glances and he walked over to ask for my number. From then on, we started dating briefly for a month but remain as friends after things were not working out. I had to admit that I was on a rebound with Perry, when a pussy-faced jerk dropped the biggest bomb down in my life just a couple weeks or months ago before we met. I know I did hurt Perry who does not deserved it, but now it is too late. I remembered there were times when we were on the phone or we were video-conferencing when I was in Perth, Perry would at times play his guitar and sing me a song. Thank you for that. I will remember you, my dear friend. Goodbye.
Perry was a sporty and healthy young man, who enjoyed the outdoors and riding his bike. What happened to him? Why did he just collapsed and died? I feel really sorry for his mother, as she had already lost her husband years ago and now she had to lose her 23 year old son. I also feel sorry for Samantha, Perry's girlfriend of about 3 years. Having been together for a number of years, and having to lose him all of a sudden; it must be very hard to let him go.
I remembered, it was May 13th, 2001, Mother's Day that I met Perry at Raffles Town Club. I was doing my F&B practical attachment for my Shatec course, while he was there having a Mother's Day lunch with his mother and his relatives. I was handing out Carnation flowers to all the mothers who were dining at the club's poolside cafe. Perry and I exchanged glances and he walked over to ask for my number. From then on, we started dating briefly for a month but remain as friends after things were not working out. I had to admit that I was on a rebound with Perry, when a pussy-faced jerk dropped the biggest bomb down in my life just a couple weeks or months ago before we met. I know I did hurt Perry who does not deserved it, but now it is too late. I remembered there were times when we were on the phone or we were video-conferencing when I was in Perth, Perry would at times play his guitar and sing me a song. Thank you for that. I will remember you, my dear friend. Goodbye.
unspoken words amplified @ 9/15/2005 07:17:00 PM
