They say behind every man is a woman.
I'm the lucky bastard with 2.
My dear Sister, who's always giving me advice and actually being the saner of us 2. And my hard working Mum.
We have moved apart since 5-6 years ago. The thing about staying together as a family is one doesn't appreciate them much. We are more than happy to see each other on our time off from work, when even having a smoke break and bitching about customers counts as quality time.
My Sis remembers details that are very often sketchy in my head. Like how I used to coach her after my kindergarten classes, so that she has a head start when she starts. Or how I made condensed milk on bread when no one is at home (this one I totally do not recall...). All this she put down in an interview with a local free magazine.
I do remember cleaning the
duapehkong altar with her, my Mum's idea of playtime (very clever, she). This was whilst my elder brothers, all 4 of them, were out selling otah-otah/kueh kuehs, playing football/brawl, and honing their mahjong skills. I was deemed too young to join them, but old enough to take care of 小妹.
Mum always had a plan.
She's taking life easy now, my Mum. It was difficult for us to make her stay home, rather than go try her hand out at running another hawker stall. She always says she wouldn't know what to do with so much free time. We always said don't slave yourself over a tiny income, when our allowances can provide for her.
Now we can't keep her from participating in every activity that the local senior club organizes. Karaoke seems to be on the top of her list, though I've asked her to try those that are more active, like dancing. They do take sort trips away from home, and she just loves to take photos. Still has some trouble adapting to the digital camera we bought her some time back, but she keeps clicking away nonetheless.
Recently she sprained her foot whilst getting onto a bus. Poor lady continued the trip home on the same bus with no assistance from other commuters (
bastards!). She only called me when she realized that she couldn't put her weight on it the next day.
After several hours at a local hospital, and 3 X-rays, it was determined that she did not have any broken bones. Plenty of rest is required, and a walker. She passed up on the walker, instead opting to purchase the x-rays for reasons unknown to both of us.
End of the day, she still seem apologetic about being unable to help out at my coming Wii party!
Silly, silly woman...
