Just attended Pak May's Wake tonight

Dear All

Pak May was the sister-in-law of my dad, wife of his elder brother who is deceased. Her real name is Maggie Hugh Mei Yong. She's 90 (but her obituary says 93) and was born in May like my dad, who will be 94 this May.

News of her death has sadden my dad and mum greatly. I guess it's sad to see people whom you know from the young days passing away, one by one. She died of pneumonia and later on kidney failure. She went into hospital because she had difficulty breathing. She has been in and out of hospital over the past 10 years, so I guess her 13 children and her numerous grand and great-grand-children were prepared for it.

When I saw one of her daughters weeping and being held up by her son, flashbacks to Albert's mum and Albert's weeping came back to me. I was moved by the song "Nearer my Lord" which was sung during the wake tonight after the prayer session.

When Bert's mum passed away, I remembered he told me he is so afraid to go through this heart-retching ache again if I pass away before him. I was so touched by that. But what made it more touching was what he said next. He knows I love him so much that I would be an emotional wreck if he goes before me, so if God would allow, he wishes that I go before him. I shared this with a praying parent today and she said your husband is so sweet and caring. I couldn't agree more.

It's good to recall that we are mortals and hence remember our shared history with our spouse. That is what ME is about. My sharing with my friend helps me recall those feelings Bert and I shared 2 years ago in 2008. It makes me appreciate my spouse even more, and thank God for giving me another day to be with Bert and the children.

The death of Pak May also triggers within me strong emotions about my dad's health. I cannot bear myself to admit that his death is drawing near. I tear even as I type this. My friend sense that I am not ready to accept his death. I am not. But I am glad to say that my dad has finally accepted that he is not mortal, and so has my mum. Lenz's sharing of one of the Lent's message that the ending of life on earth is actually not the end but the beginning of a new eternal life in heaven. Our life on earth is only brief and temporary. That's also what my friend had said to me. I know it's true, but I love the people I meet in my earthly life, and that is why I cannot accept them leaving me. It's like a long farewell, an end to any possible earthly communication with your love one. I just feel sad to even think about it and just as sad to see my dad in such a sorry state, a faded shadow of the strong personality that he used to be. I guess most people would feel the same as me.

Love Theresa

Brisk Walk @ Bedok Reservoir on Sunday (21 Feb 2010)

Dear All

As age is catching up, I had been trying to be somewhat consistent in doing brisk walking at the gym. My level of stamina and speed has been improving so I had decided to put it to the test outdoors. This is the very first time I am trying to complete a full round of bedok reservoir of 4.3 km.

I started at 5.43pm and completed by 6.27pm. I did this all from just brisk walking, clocking about 5 minutes every 500m. Alright, better than at the gym where I clocked 5 min for every 400m!!

I felt great! I felt I could still walk on! Didn't feel any muscle ache TILL time for bed! It was so uncomfortable to sleep. Turn left, thigh muscle ache, turn right, the same but on the other thigh. Luckily, since I am relatively "seasoned", I was OK the next day. Yay! Now the question is, how to lose the weight! It's not easy, especially when I can see I've burnt 200+ Kj, I happily eat the CNY goodies freely, with no restrain!

I've told Bert, if we can, we should try alternate Sunday evenings to walk. We did this as a couple without the kiddos, and it was fun....couple's time in the car and when ta-paoing dinner for the family. Plus the weather was good. Had a viewing of 3 pieces of the Berlin wall too, and 3 kingfishers in a tree and people water-skiing on miniture boards. Cool!

Love Theresa

Miracles do happen - Ash Wed @ SACPS

Dear All

I recently joined the Praying Parents at SACPS. One of our firsts is organizing a Mass for the school. Today's Ash Wednesday masses (2 masses, back-to-back) for the am and pm sessions were held today at the school's chapel. It was a marathon, but Fr Adrian Yeo managed to clear both masses under 1h each including imposition of ashes and holy communion.

The 1st mass was 11.30 to 12.30 with only half hour break to start the next mass at 1-2pm.

For me, the next first was I suddenly had to play the organ for the am mass as the parent who usually plays had taken ill. I prayed that a miracle would happen...that a am teacher would be able to play for the mass. I went down at 10am to practise after I had fetched Felicia for her librarian duty. Whilst practising, a teacher wished me all the best and not to worry as I will do well. I told her I pray not to play well, but that others think I play well.

I went to the statue of our lady in the chapel to pray for help in playing the organ and for the parent who had fallen sick. You must remember I don't have a piano at home. Bert had only just gotten a stand for the keyboard and I had only practised the songs over the CNY weekend. I have never learned to play the organ, and all 3 instruments are different in setup. I only tried the chapel's organ once, just for fun. So to be suddenly thrown to play an unknown instrument publicly infront of children, teachers and parents, it is definitely very daunting for me. Plus I don't have proper music scores. 1 for the piano, some with just right hand without guitar chords and some with guitar chords. I also was asked to play those short hymns within the mass proper by ear (i.e. without musical scores) at the very last minute. So I was highly stressed up.

Now, I shall share with you the power of prayer. The teacher who was to play for the pm session came early for the am mass. She asked if I was playing for the am, and I told her I was on standby and would play. She then asked if I was going to play for the pm as well, and I told her she could still do so. I suddenly thought, hey, why don't she play for both masses since she's agreed to play for the pm, right? She should be prepared. She was armed with the full mass order hymns. So she agreed to play the am mass when I asked her to.

As the mass went on, I realised after I had my imposition of ashes and communion that the organist did not receive any of these as she was busy playing the organ. So I asked her if she was attending her mass today. She said she was, so I told her I'll play during the imposition of ashes and the holy communion. Now the next part of the miracle of prayer....after the pm mass, the praying parents told me I had played wonderfully. I had only played 2 songs, but they were all praise. Perhaps they were just being supportive, I thought.

When Felicia came home tonight, she excitedly told me I played wonderfully. She was telling her friends, the mother in red, is her mom. She said her friends were impressed and said I played very well. Why, I asked her? It's because there was a comparison made between the other player and me. I just sounded better because I played the music with more upbeat rhythm whereas the teacher was also a pianist, like me, but played according to the score. I had learnt a little from my organist friend from observing her, so I just put it to practice. So you see, God answered both my prayers....someone played for me in the am mass, and when I played, it's not so much that I played well, but people perceive it to be so because of a comparison being made. Isn't that a miracle?

Love Theresa

Property tycoon Ng Teng Feng - My thoughts...

Dear All

Recently, the King of Orchard Road, property tycoon Ng Teng Feng passed away. There were lots of praises for his hardwork, business acumen and nose for the best property deals. Theses praises come from government ministers and prominent business figures.

There was an anecedote where the tycoon brought his wife to a rare cinema date and he brought a penlight to do work in the dark (presumably when the movie was on). To some people, this shows his hardwork and dedication to his work. For me, I felt kinda of sorry for him, his wife and his children. In life, money never seems to be enough for most people. Even the rich wants to preserve their wealth for their children and their descendants. There's nothing wrong in providing for the family. In fact, it is our responsibility as parents to provide for our children as best as we can. It's just that I feel it would have been a pity that he work so hard and yet did not stop to smell the roses along the way. He was busy planting the seeds, cultivating the land, growing more and better yielding trees but didn't stop to enjoy the trees when they were young.

In life, it's important, at least to me, to have a balance. Our children needs our time and attention besides we providing them with their physical needs. For instance, last weekend, just before Tiffy went for camp, Bert bought a newly launched monopoly cardgame. None of us knew how to play it, but we played a few rounds of it. First time Tiffy played "boardgame" with us, and she won the first hand too! I'm sure such family time would form pleasant childhood memories for her. Even if she forgets, I know I shall treasure it!

Last night (Sat), I sat down with Feli and finally made time to build the Newton Cradle with her. She had bought the science kit in Jan at school but I couldn't find time to make it with her. I am so glad I finally did, as she told me with a very happy and big smile on her face, that we had mother and daughter bonding! So cute, huh.

I am sure the children of the late tycoon would have good memories of their father. But if my experience of my generation is the norm, I don't recall my father playing with me. But I do recall the sacrifices he had made to fetch and accompany me to piano lessons by taking and changing 2 buses to get there, and then going to sunset mass together, just the 2 of us. I remember the times he drove us, as a family, to Changi beach over the weekend for a swim and picnic. I don't really understand what work he actually did. His title was land baliff on all my school's forms and in my report card. Every teacher asked me what that was, and I gave them the same answer my dad gave me, which is still unclear to me, as it was not your usual run-of-the-mill kinda job. Anyway, the point is, I remember my dad not for the jobs or work he did, but for the time he had spent with me.

Dad recently had a fall. He also recently can't remember family members names. He recently can't associate faces with names. He forgot the maid's name. He's also almost deaf in his left ear. I think he can't see very well either. His sense of balance is way-off now. I feel so sad when I see him in such a state. I can't really converse with him now. When he was more articulate, there wasn't much to converse either as he's not that "chatter-box" unless it's about his experiences during WW2. But I shall almost love him for his time travelling with me almost 1.5h in the hot afternoons on Sat for piano classes, his offer to look after my children when they were young and I was working, for the fun times he brought us to the beach, and the unforgettable drive in my first mercedez benz with him and the whole family as young kids all the way across Singapore to Malaysia. I'm so glad dad stopped to smell the roses and shared the fragrant scent with me. I love you dad!

Love Theresa

Topik and Toppik

I was working out in the gym today at lunch time and was watching this TV program on channel 5. Half way thru the program what caught my attention was this product called Toppik that gives you the thickening of your hair thru the spray you put on you head. The microfibers together with some nanotechnology result in some fibers which is very much like your hair and it will stick onto your existing hair and makes you really look as though you have a full head of hair. There is no way you can remove the artificially thicken hair excpet when you shampoo your hair (which is excellent!)

I search online for this product and I could not remember whether it is double "P" or single "P". I tried goodle for Topik to begin with and it leads me to some sort of Herbicide..something like you want to get rid of some unwanted plants. So that is Topik for this purpose.

As for Toppik, that is the product I am looking for. It places artificial hair onto your scalp within 30 seconds.

So, one is about putting artificial hair on your scalp while the other is about getting rid of unwanted small plants in your garden.

Topik or Toppik..suit your needs accordingly..

AlbertY