At the End of Ramadan, I Lost Someone… But I Was Also Reminded of the True Meaning of Family

Yesterday, March 20, 2026… I received news that tightened my chest.

Daeng Ero, my stepfather, has passed away forever. On the same day, he was also laid to rest. So fast… so quiet…leaving behind a void that words can hardly explain.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji’un.
May Allah SWT accept him into His mercy.

Yet, behind this deep sense of loss, there is one thought that keeps circling in my mind, how fortunate I was to have lived in a family like that.

I had already lost two important figures before this, my biological mother, Bunga Dg. Bollo, and my stepmother, Syamsiah…

And now, my stepfather, Daeng Ero, has followed them.

Three people who, if seen from a “worldly” perspective, might seem complicated, but in reality, they embodied something very simple, love without conditions.

I still remember my childhood… when I lived in my stepfather Daeng Ero’s house.

My status? A stepchild. But how did he treat me? Like his own biological child.

There was no difference. No distance. No “this is my child” and “that is not.”

Even his biological children were treated the same as me.

Today, I can honestly say, not everyone is capable of doing that.

What’s even more remarkable… even after he and my mother separated, the bond between us never truly broke.

The ties of kinship remained. We were still one family. We still loved one another.

There were no disputes. No hatred. No painful stories like those we often hear about broken families.

I witnessed it myself, with my own eyes since childhood, that divorce does not have to create enmity.

Today, now that he is gone…
there is one belief that quietly comforts my heart. That in the hereafter… Daeng Ero, Mama Syamsiah, and my mother Bunga… are “reunited.”

Just like before… just as I once saw in my childhood… smiling at one another, greeting each other, free from the burdens of this world.

Ya Allah… thank You. Thank You for showing me
such a beautiful example of a family, not perfect in status, but perfect in love.

And thank You… for calling him back at the end of Ramadan, a month full of forgiveness.

May it be a sign… that You wished for him to return in the best of states.

Al-Fatihah for my stepfather, Daeng Ero. You may not have been my biological father… but your love was more than enough to make me your child forever.

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