"Good morning... or maybe afternoon, I honestly don't even know what day it is anymore,"
Fay memulai dengan tawa kecil yang terdengar sangat getir, sebuah tawa dipaksakan yang justru memicu air mata bagi siapa saja yang mendengarnya karena sebenarnya tidak ada setitik pun kebahagiaan di sana.
"For many of you gathered here today... a family is defined by a loud, bustling home. It’s about a full dinner table, where a father sits at the head of the table, a mother is busy serving the food, and children are laughing at their jokes."
Fay berhenti sejenak. Ia mengalihkan pandangannya ke arah foto bingkai besar di samping peti, menampilkan sosok seorang wanita yang sudah menemani hidup Fay selama kurang lebih dua puluh satu tahun, yang kini tersenyum sangat manis dalam bingkai foto dengan kerutan bahagia di sudut matanya, senyuman yang kemiripannya sangat persis dengan senyum yang dimiliki Fay.
"But since the moment I opened my eyes to this world for the first time... my world was never that crowded. My world never have a father figure. Ever since I was a little girl, my world was only one by one meter wide. A very small, quiet world, occupied by only two people. There was only me... and Mama."
Air mata pertama lolos dari pelupuk mata Fay, jatuh membasahi pipinya yang pucat pasi, lalu menetes tepat di atas kertas yang telah dipenuhi oleh coretan tangan Fay berisi pidato yang telah ia persiapkan dengan susah payah sejak kemarin, membuat tinta tulisan di sana luntur.
"I never knew what it felt like to be carried on a father’s shoulders. I never knew the feeling of being protected by the deep voice of a grown man, assuring me that nothing in this cruel world could ever hurt me. Since I was a child, all I knew... was that My Mama's shoulders were everything. Those narrow shoulders, which were often so exhausted after a long day of work, had to carry two massive roles at once. Mama was my gentle mother, but at the exact same time, she was my rock, my father."
Fay melanjutkan pidatonya, suaranya mulai pecah dan terisak pelan.