How not to be sad

February 7, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

I don’t have the answer or solution on how not to be sad. I’m sad. I know why. I just don’t know how to shake it off. I just thought of Taylor Swift’s song as I wrote that. And, her video. I smiled. I guess that’s one way of doing it. Shake it off. Switch […]

Saying goodbye

January 24, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

I have to say goodbye to sister number 3 on Thursday. She arrived on Deepavali Eve. Changed her return flight from 21 Dec to 11 Jan. Changed it again to 27 Jan. After 2 months and 26 days she flies back to England. Her 90-day MyTravelPass visa expires on 1 Feb. I am sad now. […]

11 minutes

January 17, 2022.Reading time 6 minutes.

It was the longest 11 minutes of my life. My mum could not be aroused. Not by her palliative doctor, who thankfully was present at the time, for her weekly visit. Not by sister number 3. Not by me. My mum was a little under the weather the previous Sunday evening. Phlegm and cough. […]

Palliative care

December 27, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

‘Alert and chatty’ is how the palliative care doctor describes my mum, in her log book, after her weekly and sometimes bi-weekly home visit. Positive and encouraging words. Optimistic adjectives. Happily, also true. My mum is sharp witted and cheeky with her answers and responses to questions and queries posed by her palliative team. She […]

88 today

September 27, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

It’s my mum’s 88th birthday today. It’s a super special birthday on many levels. My mum is super-duper special to me. 88 is a grand old age to get to. 88 is an auspicious number. In Chinese it means fortune and luck. As my mum is a quarter Chinese, she will receive abundant blessings of […]

Confusion

September 20, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how I was forgetting stuff more than usual. It was just after my mum started exhibiting some worrying symptoms of memory loss and confusion. She has forgotten this and that, like me, and like most of us, now and again. A birthday or anniversary. A scheduled […]

My mum’s recipe 7: WIP – Suji Puttu

June 14, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

Two weeks ago, my mum announced that she was going to cook Suji or Semolina Puttu for her Friday lunch. Just like Upma, there’s nothing about Puttu that I like. Not the sand-like texture, taste or pale colour. But, that’s just me. Despite my dislike and disinterest in Puttu, I volunteered to help my mum. […]

Daughter-mother

May 17, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

I missed the point. I’m the daughter. My mum is the mum. That’s the relationship. Yes, I’m my mum’s carer now. The roles and responsibilities may have somewhat blurred. But the relationship is clear and irrevocable. Mother’s Day was on May 9. The week leading up to it was unusually difficult for me. My tinnitus […]

Haircut week

May 3, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

It was my first hair cutting job and my mum’s first in about seven decades. She hasn’t been to a hairdresser or barber since she was about 12. I cut my mum’s hair a few weeks ago. It was a daunting and challenging responsibility on many levels. Why? My mum prides herself in her twice […]

My younger mum

April 5, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

One morning, without any prompting, my mum recalled her wedding and her early married life in Kuala Ketil estate in Kedah. She, who is always late and on a catch up mode, despite being up between 5-5.30 am every morning, was rather relaxed and in a chatty mood. Information was spewing out of her. Naturally, […]