RIP Om Jenggot

I’m still feeling the side effects of this COVID vaccine almost 2 days later. I got caught up with a few things that needed to get done yesterday and was only able to rest starting at around 2pm. I didn’t take it as easy as I would have liked. Today,

I have some minor aches and just feel a bit tired despite a decent night of sleep. I really miss the days when I didn’t have to have these huge recovery days. It was nice being young.

On a different note, I received the sad news that my uncle in Indonesia died yesterday at age 70. He had an unexpected stroke and passed. We called him Om Jenggot. Om meaning uncle. And Jenggot meaning goatee in Indonesian. He always sported a goatee when I was young.

My Dad was 1 of 11 in his family and he was the one sent to the US to go to school. Given the large family and fact that we’re across the globe, it’s always been hard to see family.

Om Jenggot always took a liking to me as a child. He was a tailor and would send me the best Halloween costumes. I last saw him as a teenager when I went to Indonesia probably close to 20 years ago at this point. I can tell my Dad is definitely upset. He was very close to this brother.

I was able to meet his son, my cousin when he was a kid as well. I know he had another son is young as well. I hope that they’re doing well given the news.

It’s an eye opening moment for me. A lot of my uncles and aunts have passed at this point. I wasn’t close to many of them given the large family but family is family, and I need to visit back home to see family soon. I hope I can bring my son and Sophia to Indonesia sometime soon so they can meet my family.