Kepada Ibuku...

With mother's day around the corner, I thought of reflecting about my mother.

A quarter of a century back, I was conceived in my mother's womb during her honeymoon night. Yes, I was a honeymoon baby. Was it a mistake? I think not. I hope not :)

Carrying me around wasn't easy. She told me she flushed glasses and glasses of milk down her throat, because she knew that milk was good for babies. She drank so much milk until she grew so gemuk. Once, when I looked at her wedding portrait in the house, I said, "Eh, mummy... Who is that?" She said it's an imposter. Hahaha...

Look at me now... I've got strong teeth! Unlike my sister. She's got a bit of teeth problems when she was young. My mum must've gotten sick of milk.

Nothing about me is easy, since before I was born. Even the way I was born wasn't easy! I sat in the womb, head up. I refused to turn. I refused to budge. Even after 9 months. The doctors had no choice. Bring in the kitchen knife!

I remember seeing the marks on her womb when I was young enough to be allowed to see it. Big, huge scar. Yeah man. I was difficult then. Am still difficult now :)

Being difficult has its price. I remember when I was young, I had my share of beatings. Sometimes I don't even know why I kena. Usually, the words I hear before I kena were "ahn chua lu ah neh kuai koo eh..." (why are you so mischievous wan). But I really dunno what I did that was considered "mischievous". I didn't climb tree what... Dunno why I always kena for being mischievous. Hehehe...

When I was teaching the Form 1 kids in my school, then I kinda understood. Kids don't know it when they're mischievous. Only adults can see it. To them, they're doing something totally normal. To us, it's hell broken loose.

Another one is "ahn chua lu ah neh gao in ua" (why you so clever answer back wan). She would tarik the last syllable panjang panjang "ah neh gao in uuuuuuaaaaaaa..." when I kena belasah la. But I really don't understand why she said I always answer back. No mah. I was just talking only what. She ask me, I answer lah! *Whack* (confused). Hahaha...

Dunno if she did a good job. I think she wasn't quite successful. Until today, I'm still cheeky. Until today, I still like to answer back. Even worse, argue and quarrel with people. Hehehe...

Once, in a new and creative way to teach me not to answer back, she used cili padi. She squeezed it, took out the juice, applied it on my lips, and made me eat the rest of it. Wah, siao man! So hot!! (But I quite smart also la. I put the cili padi under my tongue, so it won't burn so bad.) She must've expected me to spit it out. But I didn't. So, after some time, she said, "If you like it so much, you can just eat it!" Then I knew it was ok to spit it out :)

Well, they are not all bad. There are some good ones too.

I remember how much I liked it when my mother would come to USM with me. (Not during university days lah! Gila... Die man! Before I was 10 lah.) My father would take me to the pool to swim everyday. Sometimes, on Fridays, my mum would tag along. We would have dinner at the Red House, buy some kacang, and we would wait at the steps of the pool until training starts.

I remember that whenever she was there, I would imagine that she was watching me. Looking at every single thing I did. Watching me chase that other kid and overtake him from behind. I always felt as though I had some extra energy coming from somewhere. I performed best in training whenever my mother was around. It's like, I wanted to show her what I could do. So she would be impressed.

Look at me. I have hundreds of medals hanging on my bedroom wall today. It was my mum who framed the medals I won at each competition. She kept all of them for me.

I remember how she encouraged me. During my primary school days, I was quite into writing my own storybooks. My mother took my book, brought it to Mr. Chang (the bookshop man) and asked him to sell it. "You never know, people may like it," she said.

True enough, the next day, Mr. Chang (who also happened to be my English teacher) came to my class and handed me a 5 Ringgit bill. "Someone bought your book," he said.

I couldn't believe it! I told my mother. "Cannot be mah... Who would buy my book? Nice meh?" I asked. "Got wan... I'm sure someone did. Maybe some standard 4 boy," she said. I was just in Standard 3.

I started to write a sequel.

It was only during Form 6 that I found out what really happened. During a casual conversation, I struck up this old memory about me selling my storybooks in SK Minden Heights.

"Eh, you remember or not, last time I wrote storybooks to sell in school?"

"Yah."

"Someone bought it, rite."

"No la. Actually I bought it."

WHAT?????? AND ALL THIS WHILE????

My goodness. It took me 9 years to figure it out.

But look at me today. I wouldn't have been good at writing if it were not for her. I write too much nowadays. Until people complain I'm too wordy.

My mother never failed to believe in me. She always thought I was a super genius (which is not true). She thought I could've become a doctor if I wanted to (not true also). She believed in me when no one else would.

At one time, I joined a multi-level marketing company. Of course, I needed some "buyers" to start off with. I asked my mum if she would help me out. "When this works out, I could be earning RM3000 a month!" I said. She believed in me.

Together, we squandered more than half a grand.

Look at me today. I wouldn't have turned out to be a confident person, if it were not for my mother. Because she always believed in me.

Here's to my mother. Happy Mother's Day. From your difficult son :)