Do you Believe in Afterlife?

There is just too much death this year. Among relatives, friends, co-workers, it makes me think about how transitory and fleeting life is. It makes me value the people around me and the things that God bestowed upon me. I am in my late 20s with two kids. I support the family through a bakery where we sell mostly personalized cakes and cupcakes. Something that I truly enjoy since I also have a sweet tooth, and I like experimenting.

In the street where my business thrives, there are also small retail stores. Right across the street is where my friend Janice man her own flower shop, just beside a hardware store.

Fun-fact: the stretch where our businesses are housed for quite some time now used to be a place where there are a lot of Singapore casket services. Yes, you read that right, my friend. Apparently, there were about 6 to 8 Singapore funeral services here in this long street which was said to offer one of the cheapest funeral services in Singapore around a decade back. But these successful businesses started to close when the owners decided to all retire, apparently, these are old men who wanted to enjoy the fruits of their labour in the last few years of their life. Us locals now do have many choices for a decent Singapore funeral, but it’s just very interesting to know that right at this very corner of my store, dead people were dressed and readied for their final show, if you know what I mean.

I even think this is such a lucky spot. Since I move my bakery here—it used to be near a school but I had to relocate because the rent is just way too high—I had more clients. I now get about 40 delivery request every day, and I am just lucky that my staff has been very efficient in their work. Recently though, one of my delivery men, died of heart attack. Mike is a very sweet young guy who would make sure all his lady co-workers get home safely during night shifts. Apparently, heart disease runs in their family and he had drinking and smoking hard when he feel stressed. I also heard from one of his friends that Mike is heartbroken since his girlfriend for a year left him for another. Just too young and too kind to leave so soon, I thought. He was just telling about his plans to continue his college education as he was already in his third year as a culinary arts student. I even promised to help in case he decides to go back to the university.

One of my cousins died too this year because of a car accident. And my high school friend Tara died too in her sleep. It is quite heartbreaking and shocking for me to take, but I just pray each time that they are all in heaven now—all free from suffering. I do believe in an afterlife, and I wish to see them still someday. While life on Earth is temporal, I believe our journey never stops and everyone we meet in our lifetime, we’ve known too in our past lives. Maybe that’s just the dreamer in me, but I refuse to think that life is meaningless. I believe that we exist for a reason.