Skip to main content

My mum's 70th birthday

Celebrated my mum's 70th birthday last weekend. It was a small and cosy 'party', just us and our families and her siblings and their families.

My mum has certainly led a 'full' life these 70 years, been there, done that, etc. She lived through the war and went to school only at 10 when the war was over. She was a nurse, then a teacher but spent most of her adult life as a housewife, saddled with us. She didn't get much of a break from being saddled with kids because by the time the last of us got married, she was already grandmother of 4 (now 6).

She used to take the bus daily across the island for months on end to help care for my nephew when he was a baby. When I gave birth, she did that for the first two or three months for me too. She still comes over at least once a week to my place, and the rest of the week, she's just going round to help with the others.

There is nothing one can say or do that will adequately thank one's mum for going through rain, sun, traffic jam, illness, etc etc... for the sake of her kids or grandchildren. I'm sure that if she could, she would even do that for her great grandchildren. I am just thankful she is in good health and generally happy and positive about life.

There is an article in today's papers entitled 'Can people live beyond 120 years?' Boy, I hope I am not going to be one of those who gets to live beyond 120. There is only so much that one can do with one's life, I think. Am I being too pessimistic here? Anyway, it is all up to the Big One Up There to decide, not me.

Now for the frivolous part. First, the dress I wore for the celebration. I am thrilled to learn how to 'add image'. Ha ha, cheap thrill! Thanks, Bear Hugs, for teaching me. I am so daft, the 'add image' icon has been right in front of me all this while and I just found out about it!!

Anyway, I got the dress from Blum, to which I was introduced by my friend CK. The place has some aunty and getai-ish outfits but also lots of lovely pieces. I am sure anyone who steps in will find something they like. They also have persuasive sales staff who will bring out an endless stream of dresses for you to try. They tried to make me spend some $600 there. Good thing I didn't. But I thought the dress was necessary expenditure, and also, my brother said he was going to wear a suit, and, most importantly, I cannot fit into any of my old 'dinner' outfits anymore.

So here's the front and back view of the dress and close-up of the front. Not sure how to describe those things on the front -- brass-coloured studs?









This other picture is of a cami also from Blum which I couldn't resist getting. It was too lovely to leave behind...

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A lesson in love

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world. -Mother Teresa Most of the time my eyes just glaze over when I see article upon article of football news. One caught my glazing eye over the weekend, though - 'De la Cruz - Mother Theresa in boots' , because of the familiar name. Mother Teresa, that is. It was the first time I’d ever heard of this de la Cruz guy, an EPL player who hails from Ecuador (GNI per capita US$2,630; as a comparison, Singapore’s is US$27, 490 – source: BBC country profiles ). His is a great story to illustrate that famous Chinese saying about not forgetting your roots. According to the article, ‘Each month a proportion of that salary (about S$150,000) Reading pay him - be it 10 per cent in January or 20 per cent in February - goes direct to the village’ (where he grew up). (Picture and profile from here ) Here's what he has been credited for: 1. 'The 2002 World Cup,' de la Cruz reflects, 'finan

True train school

‘Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire. These are the things to fear, said the headmaster.’ How would you like to have such a headmaster? I finally re-read (read it first as a teenager) Totto-chan, The Little Girl at the Window , a ‘school story’ by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, translated by Dorothy Britton. Totto-chan is the name Tesuko Kuroyanagi called herself, and the book is about her life during her school days at Tomoe Gakuen. Totto-chan was expelled from her first elementary school because of her ‘disruptive’ behaviour, which included constantly opening and closing her desk top (because she was so thrilled by it), ‘vandalising’ her desk (because there wasn’t enough space on the piece of paper to draw) and standing by the classroom window waiting for street musicians to pass by or talking to swallows. Her mother, although probably alarmed about the

When the best man doesn't win

Speaking of 'sway' spurned lovers, the latest one I've come across is in Love Revolution ( only 12 episodes!), a J show I recently watched. Heroine of the story is pretty, 30-ish Smart Doctor, who is dying to fall in love and get married. She meets Aspiring Actor and Broadcast Journalist (right). She falls for Broadcast Journalist like a ton of bricks. It's obvious from the start (to the audience but not to her) that Aspiring Actor is nuts about her. But... she has fallen for Broadcast Journalist like a ton of bricks already. No doubt, Smart Doctor and Broadcast Journalist must be given credit for their love that stands the tests of time, separation and misunderstanding, but the one who loves most in the show is undoubtedly Mr Aspiring Actor. What he does/does not do because of his undying love for Smart Doctor: Y does not pursue her at first because he is still struggling to survive in this small-time drama group and he knows he doesn't have much to offer Y resp