Gone But Not Forgotten

" Bahawasanya kami kepunyaan Allah dan bahwasanya kami akan kembali kepadaNya."

I’m sorry I’ve been away from the blogging world for so long, and also for leaving my Terengganu trip story hanging like this. I would like to continue, in fact I have several half-written posts I need to put up but for now I would like to pay tribute to a dear friend of mine, Yusrina Mohd Yusof.

Yusrina, or Yus as we would all called her, was a great friend. Funny, hardworking, caring and kind. She had just joined our division a month ago; she was supposed to take over one of my channels. As a result, we spent a lot of time at work together as I helped her ease her way into our division and its eternal mist of chaos. Despite the heavy workload, she never grumbled but took everything in stride, solving problems that I had given up on for months.

Despite spending all that time with her, I never got to really know much about her personal life. I know she was married, with a beautiful boy who had just turned 3 last Tuesday. I know this because she had asked me the price of a bicycle she was thinking of buying for her kid. I know she was the eldest in her family; I think she had like 4 or 5 younger siblings. I know her family resides in Tampin as she mentioned going back there during last raya.

What else do I know about her? Does it really matter? She’s gone; she passed away this morning around 4am.

I just met her yesterday. I can still remember our last conversation, talking about work as usual. I remember our last YM chat. I remember her asking about finding a makcik urut since she complained of feeling tired and full of wind lately. Was I supposed to know that was a sign of things to come? She had complained of wind for nearly a year it seems, always brushing it off as nothing serious.

Oh my god, how I miss her so. This all seems like just a dream, that maybe I’ll just wake up in my bed and I can go warn her, make her go for a check-up. I feel so helpless. Maybe I could have helped her more with her work, maybe I could have seen the signs of stress getting to her. The thing is she looked so healthy, only 27. There were no signs, no indication of what was to happen.

Dearest Yus, I pray your spirit is with those who are loved by Allah. I pray that you did not suffer when you left us. I pray that you loving husband and son get all the help and strength to get though this tragedy. We will all miss you and will always think of you. I just wish we had more time to spend with each other, more good times for us to remember. Dearest Yus, I hope I was a good friend to you as you were a great friend to me.

Ya Allah, ko ampunkanlah segala dosa hambaMu Yusrina. Selamatkan dia dari segala seksaan kubur. Sesungguhnya ajal dan mati itu datangnya dariMu. Kepada Kau kami berserah, kepada Kau kami meminta. Golongkanlah hambaMu dalam golongan orang-orang yang beriman. Amin.