Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

My Mom, and her favourite pastime, before the era of the blog

Today is my mom's birthday. Due to the fear of repercussion (heh!), I shall not tell you how old she is, but just tell you that she looks younger than her age.

My mom is the kind of person I hope to be, but have yet to be. And don't even know if I can be half the person she is today. Sure, I blame some "quirks" on my mom, i.e. the short eyebrows and the tummy rumblings when I don't eat at the desired time. Not to mention the sudden leg cramps at night (yep, Mom, I inherited that as well). But all things considered, these "quirks" are special because these are things I share with my mom. OKlah.. unfortunately all my siblings inherited the short eyebrows thing, so note to all, if in doubt as to whether we're related, just look at our eyebrows.

I am lucky to have a mom like mine. She always had time for us, even at the peak of her political career, and boy, did she have patience, even when I threw up all over her at the beginning of a long flight to US when I was just a wee 2 year old.

At an early age, she and my dad introduced us to our love of food, books and travel. And normally we'd do all three at the same time. When we were in US, I remember my parents being the ideal hosts. Everyone congregated at our house, and birthday parties and gatherings were the best. Everyone loved my Mom's cooking and relished at any excuse to go to our house. (I wish I knew people like my parents when I was studying overseas!).

My parents loved to pack us up and drive everywhere whenever they could. My siblings and I are fortunate to have travelled so much in our lifetime, which is a big thanks to my parents. They always found a way to take us somewhere, even when they were earning teachers' salaries. Even now, we make it a point to have a family holiday once a year.

My mom did it all. She is a great wife, a great mother, a great Opah, a great daughter, a great sister, a great teacher and a great leader. I only hope one day I'll be able to be like her. In the meantime, I'll just invest in eyebrow pencils to make my brows look longer.

Happy birthday, Mak!