Thirty years ago this day, I gave birth to my son, the youngest of my children.
Today, it’s his 30th birthday, a turn of another decade for him. I wish him health and wisdom.
I might have written some of the following before, but I do like to write again….
- The day before his birth, my womb was so big that I couldn’t reach the faucet in the sink to wash the dishes. I had to ask my husband’s school-mate and wife who were visiting from Vancouver, to help me do the dishes after dinner. They were the first guests to visit me the next day upon my delivery.
- My househelper asked to resign upon my son’s birth since she said three kids and a house were too much for her to handle. This lady learnt the living the hard way after she left me and she was the one who eventually accompanied me when I returned to Hong Kong to help in my household. We treated each other like family members. I considered her as my househelper, not a maid. But like before, she left me after a few years of work in Hong Kong to return to her home town of Penang. She said the living standard was too high for her in Hong Kong. I couldn’t locate her the last three times I visited Penang.
- One morning, my son woke up, finished the bottle of milk, stepped on the trash can and threw the bottle into it. That’s it….he weaned himself away from the bottle….that simple. He never asked for it again. In fact, that morning, my mom and I watched what he did and we picked the bottle up from the trash bin when he was not watching lest he wanted it back some time later. But he didn’t! Bravo, my son.
- We were in Disneyland. I told my son he was way too heavy for me to carry. That was a time when he was three or less. Ever since, he hadn’t asked me to carry him again. Thank you, my son!
- The Chinese lady! People thought Chinese like to have big families and with four kids, they still want a fifth one. That’s what happened when all the strange eyes stared at me when I stepped into the clinic for my maternity checkup, taking four girls along. The four girls….A, B, C, D….Doh, Ray, Me, Fa….they looked so much alike and differed in height only by one or two inches each. Two were mine; two were my friend’s who asked me to care for their daughters that day. I would never forget those stares at this Chinese lady in the gynae’s clinic.
30 years…
Another 30 years, I would be 94 and my son 60! Imagine….an old old woman and an old man!
Son, cheer up….don’t think about that for now. It’s another 30 years to go! Have a happy Birthday for now...for today!