Abigail's Farewell

Naw, that isn't the title of a novel, trust me. Yesterday night was Abigail's farewell dinner, held at Hartz (to Aaron's everlasting horror) and with a motley bunch of teens from St Faith Ori and St Faith Extension in tow. David's from SIB, but's he's the exception, so lemme leave him out of the last sentence *winks*

Ruby and Aaron - Plateheads

Well, for those of you in perpetual darkness, Abi's an old friend of mine, a great servant of the Lord and THE absolute lover of the colour pink. (Ling, if you're reading this in between shifts in Aussie, trust me, you can hold nowt to her). She's leaving for New Zealand at about 9 tonight, which means as i'm typing this post she's probably at the airport with Paul and Josh and Daniel (and extended family) lugging bags to the departure hall.

The Four Cousins

Back to the dinner. It was scheduled to start at 7:30, but by some freak of nature (think rain and the impossibility of parental schedules (read:mine)), i had to get my aunt to come and send the lot of us to Hartz, ala sardine-in-the-backseat. Abigail was her usual chirpy self, with a her hair done up in cascading curls, and asked us if she looked like a poodle ... by the way, if you're wondering, i don't get that part either. When we reached there we found an alarmingly big group of people lepaking outside Hartz.

We went in, Paul and me chia-ing Abigail, and then proceeded to jam up the hallway while looking for a place to sit. David, Max, Abi and Paul hauled a table over, put it down and then hauled it back again when they realized there was no space. Throughout which we were of course being our usual selves, screaming and kicking, er, talking with each other.

I should seriously crop this to leave just two people ...

I don't think the other customers thought well of us. But more of that later.

We gathered around after being split into two groups for prayer. I couldn't hear most of what Paul was saying, but i'm sure besides praying for the food he asked for protection over Abigail throughout the trip (and beyond). When that was done we stampeded for the food.

Paul protesting before the prayer. Vive le Revolution!

This was the first time i managed to eat throughout the entire two hour limit at the Hartz - started off with salad, ate mash potatoes and pasta, ate some more salad, talked, talked some more, ate onion rings, talked even more ... you get the idea. I only took a tiny slice of chicken from Aaron because he was screaming at the spicyness of it all, and even then went back for more salad. Gee. Either i'm turning into a monk or a particularly talkative Judo bunny.

Lynn choosing salad

If the food was substandard, the conversation was not. We talked on things ranging from the aformentioned poodle lookalikes, plans after the SPM, the hazards of Laughter While Driving, and the lousiness of Planetshakers. PS fans better not kill me, but i don't think we talked about that. Hmm. Must be whispers in my mind.

Censored Aaron, Gorging Jason

Somewhere around 9, David started showing off magic tricks. He bamboozled Ruby, made coins rearrange themselves, killed kings and shuffled decks into reorganized messes. I'd seen most of the cool ones at the CF camp, so i passed and sat around with Denise, Abi, Paul and Eric. We talked about inconsequential things, mostly, but it was the company that counts, and i could see that we were all cherishing the last moments of conversation we could get with her.

BTW, Godric. Coffee.

Me. Max (with mp3 player). Paul. (Abi was praying with Denise)

How long have i known Abigail? Probably as long as Paul, but not as well. She'd worked with us all during Kids Games, choir (which i didn't attend), and impressed upon all of us her apparent ease of serving God with a smile. She led during Sundays in Sunday school, and made us laugh with her moments of blurness ... We'll all miss her.

Failing to look like poodles ... they go samseng

After that we did group photos, and i took some videos. Laughter all around (and me growling at Youtube now) ... it was a great night for Abi i hope (emails coming your way!).

Us Around Abi (with Daphne going cheers)

To Elaine Poh: in KL and learning nursing, thanks for reminding me to organize this for Abi. Us St Faith Youth are seriously blessed to have you as a friend.

To all those who came: Denise, Max, Elaine, Daphne, Godric, Eric, Paul, Josh, Dan, Desmond, Seph, Lynn (!), David, Joanna, Aaron, Ruby, Jason and .... erm didileftoutanoyoneelse?, thanks for seeing Abi off and not making me malu as an organizer.

To Abi: Good luck and God Bless you every step of the way.

Goodbye and Godspeed. You do not look like a poodle.

Got this from Abigail's frenster profile. She posted a shoutout recently.

"Shakespeare once said parting is such as sweet sorrow. I think he used the wrong adjective"


How true.

PS: For all those who wants the photos, visit my Flickr Stream here.