Ah Ma, my grandma. Where do I start to honour such an amazing lady?
Truth be told, I struggled to put my thoughts on paper. Just as I struggled to express myself properly in Mandarin to Ah Ma every time I met her. I used to joke with my friends that my Ah Ma could understand more of my English than my Chinese. 
She understood English because Ah Ma worked for the British when she was younger. She toiled hard for them, and definitely earned her spot as one of the Pioneer Generation who built Singapore.
Ah Ma married my Ah Gong and together, they had 9 children. Those 9 children got married and had their own children. Some of whom have gotten married and had children. Some are going to get married and some have children on the way. As you can imagine, our family celebrations are super boisterious!
We all loved gathering to celebrate important occasions with Ah Ma. And our pretty Ah Ma loved to "打扮美美", as my Second Aunty put it. Jewellery, bags, clothes - Ah Ma was really sweet and thoughtful, and she always made it a point to put on what you got for her when going out together. It was our default holiday activity for my parents and us kids to go shopping for trinkets and other accessories to gift Ah Ma. 
We brought her shopping for outfits before my wedding and before my jie's wedding. Ah Ma excitedly modelled outfit after outfit for us. And being the modern, forward-looking grandma that she is, she chose a gorgeous BLACK outfit with blue sequins for my wedding. Who said black pantang, right? And she was resplendent the entire evening.
Ah Ma also loved her food and she would go on Western food adventures with my brother, our cousin and later their wives joined in too. Ah Ma also loved a good beer.
Ah Ma took care of most of her grandkids when we were growing up and, at any given point, there could be more than 10 of us driving her nuts. She was generous with her love. She believed never in using the cane on us but still remained firm with us to ensure that we all grew up as good people. She prayed for all of us. Always. She was happy when she saw us happy, and this was evident when she hugged me tightly at my husband's and my wedding, when she held our girls for the first times etc. 
I could go on and on recounting all the good times we spent together, and how important she is to me, but I'll keep Ah Ma and the memories in my heart. Just as I've been keeping my Ah Gong in my heart. On Wednesday, we were all devastated to have lost Ah Ma but we are all comforted that after 12 years, Ah Ma and Ah Gong are reunited again. 
I leave you with a quote from American intellectual, Ralph Waldo Emerson. "When you were born you were crying and everyone was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone is crying." With that, I thank everyone for coming here to celebrate my Ah Ma and her legacy of family.