Rest in peace Uncle Marv.

Received the bad news this morning before school. A good friend of my parent died yesterday of heart attack while working.

I remember meeting him the last time in KL at then end of last year.

"This is JJ is it? Oh! It's Rex! Remember, uncle?". Sadly, I did not. Was too young by then. Probably a little baby Rex when he moved from Sarawak to KL. Like most of my dad's bachelorhood friends, he was witty and an interesting man with lots of stories to be told.

Uncle Marv was also a joker. He seems to endlessly cheering the dinner table when we sat together. It's no wonder my parents told me before that he was a joker. A real good one in fact. He made me laugh non stop whenever I met him during my holiday last year!

There was one prominent characteristic about him. I'm not sure if it's true not, but he told me that he had sixth sense. So, it undoubtedly that most of his stories were "ghostly" and did send some chills down my spine. I remembered him scaring my mum during a dinner we had then. Uncle Marv said that the ghost of someone was sitting next to her during a funeral. Now the fun part is that this happened a couple of decades ago, long before I was born, and my mum still had goosebumps everytime Uncle Marv remind her of it. Haha!

He always had a bright smile on his face, as I recall. A glass of cold beer in one hand, a lighted cigarette in the other, I would always remember him as a joyous man.

Rest in peace Uncle Marvin Santa Maria. Though I didn't really know you, that one week was enough for me to understand how special you were to my parents. I'll keep you in prayers.