Heaven behind tears

【Song of the Same Heart】1

I want to witness Marlene’s friendship that transcends skin color, age, and restrictions in front of many whites, blacks, and Asians.

In the studio, next to the window, under the bottom layer of the round glass table, there are two cartoon-shaped square disks drawn by hand in Italy. The plates are not big, one is about eight inches by eight inches, and the other is ten inches by ten inches. There is a tiger cat on the small disk, wearing a French slanted hat on its head, holding a palette in its left hand and a paintbrush in its right hand, standing proudly in front of an easel with a self-portrait on it. The other was a big fat lavender cat, with his eyes closed and he was playing the saxophone intoxicatedly. These two disks were a birthday gift from Ma Lin to me.

Not long after that year, she told me that she had lung cancer. Ma Lin is an old friend I met in the ceramics studio.

Witness friendship

On the day of the funeral, I told some stories about Ma Lin in front of her relatives and friends. At first, there was some hesitation. After all, this was my first time to deliver a speech at a foreigner’s funeral. After thinking about it, I decided to go to the stage because I knew Ma Lin liked me to do this. I want to witness Marlene’s friendship that transcends skin color, age, and restrictions in front of many whites, blacks, and Asians.

Once, Ma Lin was invited to attend the wedding of a Jewish friend. The wedding was held in a castle in the countryside. After the outdoor ceremony, we were arranged at the banquet table to enjoy the wedding banquet. Marlene sat across from me, and next to her was Pedro, a Brazilian large keyboard piano musician. Peder is a good friend of the groom, who is my saxophone teacher. After the introduction, everyone started to eat with the wine in their ears. Ma Lin and Pei De had a very happy chat that day. During the dinner, some people mistakenly thought that they were husband and wife.

Maybe it was because of the alcohol, or maybe it was because of Pei De's lively chatting and laughing. It could be seen that that day, Ma Lin's face was bright red, her face was full of spring breeze, and she was extremely happy. Another reason that made her happy was that Ma Lin was in her early sixties, but she looked like she was in her fifties; Peide was in his early forties, but he also looked like he was in his fifties. Although this was a beautiful misunderstanding, it made her smile from ear to ear. This is Ma Lin, who never hides any emotions worth exciting.

In fact, this also coincides with David's memorial to Ma Lin (maybe not many people at the table know this, but I know that David was Ma Lin's boyfriend when he was young). David told us that Marlene once said to him: "When you talk to me, you must look at me." Yes, whenever Marlene talks to me, she always looks at me very close. To be honest, I haven't been used to this kind of "press-on marking" for a while! Ma Lin's presence leaves you with nothing to avoid.

Ma Lin's catchphrase that she often talks about is: "Wonderful! Beautiful!" Whether she is invited to a restaurant to eat Vietnamese food, Chinese food, or frozen dumplings or instant noodles at home... she always looks satisfied: "Yeah, oh , It’s so delicious!” From a Chinese perspective, perhaps her taste buds are too easily satisfied, but it is undeniable that few people can appreciate, experience and appreciate it with all their heart. Feel every seemingly simple thing around you.

Remembering an old friend

The only regret during the memorial ceremony was that I missed the last ceremony of delivering the ashes because I went to the bathroom. Later, someone told me that her ashes were placed in a pottery pot designated by her. It was a pottery made by herself during her lifetime. I think Ma Lin would not mind my absence. If she were there, she would still say to me: "If you must go, you must go!"

After the memorial service, everyone was led into the main hall to enjoy drinks and snacks. The hall is surrounded by Ma Lin's photography works in Africa, which once again immersed me in her warmth... Many people shook my hand and said: "Thank you for sharing." One of them, a woman named Wendy, said to me Coming up: "You are Lan Hui. Ma Lin often mentions you to me. You don't know how much she loves you and appreciates you. Maybe you don't even know how good you are..." This is Ma Lin, who always praises people generously. of Marlene. Ma Lin's life was quite difficult to walk. According to others, she had two marriages that were not happy, but from her words, although there was loneliness, there was no bitterness. On the contrary, she is always grateful and chooses to live in the present moment.

Often, in life, there is always a feeling of being pampered; I think it is because of friends like Ma Lin. During the memorial service, in accordance with Marlene's wishes, the pastor and the entire congregation enjoyed Holy Communion. Among the many friends in the pottery studio, I was surprised to be the only one who came forward to receive Holy Communion. I told people in the studio: I want to go to heaven more and more, because there are people like Ma Lin in heaven. One of them replied: "Then you have to make a clay pot yourself first!"

After saying that, we laughed loudly, although there were still tears in the corners of our eyes...