WEEK 6

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009

Last weekend with my parents cooking, cleaning, nagging and fussing over us.  This is the last hoo-rah.

Mommy started early prepping for all the meals for the day. There was Hainanese Chicken Rice for lunch and Bak Kut Teh for dinner.  My youngest sister was flying back to NYC from Toronto and coming to Jersey to be with the family.

Lunch was supposed to be at 1pm.  We waited until 2:30 pm.  The buses never came.

Now, we are sharing pictures from the wedding. My uncle, an amateur, did a better job in composition and color than the “professional” photographer did with his unfocused, pixelated, blurry, crooked, non-candid “work.”  Everyone needs to know NOT to hire this scam artist of a wannabe photographer. This guy gives photographers a bad name.

• Doug Walters •

He has no eye for art.  In fact, I think he has NO EYES.  Even the blind can see better.

After our bak kut teh dinner, while waiting for my mom to shower, we watched Naruto episodes of Jiraiya’s impending demise.

When everyone was ready, we played a few rounds of gin rummy where my younger sister came out the winner, and me trailing by a mere 4 points.

Sunday, Sept. 27, 2009

We prepped ourselves for the great gorge.  We were having Japanese food for breakfast/lunch/dinner in Minado, Little Ferry. 美味しい！

Mommy is an extremely small eater.  Her usual meal consists of one tablespoon of rice, 2 pieces of cut up chicken and one orange.

Today, however, was a “breakthrough.” She had at least four servings of fish (red snapper, white fish, blue king fish, salmon etc), soup, dessert, blueberry yogurt and TWO cups of green tea ice cream. She had a stomachache after that, but still wanted more ice cream.

Daddy enjoyed his sushi, sashimi, cooked fish, dessert and three bowls of soup (miso, crab and spicy prawns)

Then we came back home for another round of assembly line – and I thought the wedding is over. The line monkeys were putting together the invites for the KL wedding dinner.

Skipped dinner, but instead had Japanese rice crackers mixed in with almonds, peanuts, cashew, pumpkin & sunflower seeds, cranberries & raisin, germ-infested wedding cake and mango, while playing our last gin-rummy game.

The past 5 weeks have been a myriad of bitter sweet emotions. It was utter joy and excitement to have my parents here again. I didn’t have to worry about my meals or the cleaning of my house. It was reassuring to come home from work everyday, knowing that my parents were here. Normal chicken and potato dishes became tastier. Movies were funnier and more entertaining.

Jessie is happier just to have my mom talk to her every day and my father relieve her in the afternoons. Even my parents dote on her like she is their long lost child.

Monday, Sept. 28, 2009

Cheh and I didn’t go in to work today.  She worked FROM home. I worked AT home. My younger sister WENT to work.

While I tied up loose ends with my freelance work and house chores, mommy and daddy went to Shop-Rite for one last time, walking my younger sister out to take the bus into NYC at 8:15 am.  They didn’t get back to the house until 11:30 am.  We were going to call the cops for missing persons.  It seems mommy wanted to wait for the “fresh-er” grapes, apples and bread. They also bought fried chicken wings, which they have been raving about the pass few weeks, for lunch.

After the repast, they started packing their bags. They came with one big bag, a small bag, a duffle bag and a big box of food. Mommy thought they would return to KL with the small bag in the big bag and the duffle bag.

They left with one big bag, a small bag, a duffle bag and a box of food.  The law of equivalent exchange does apply.

They came with gifts, they leave with gifts. They came with food, they return with food.

I went upstairs to check on some mails when they were packing, and daddy came up too. He put his hand at the small of my back and asked, “What are you doing?”

I looked up, and saw that his eyes were tearing up. I wanted to be brave, but instead looked like a jerk.  I turned away and said, “Nothing really. Is there something that you’re looking for?”

He shrugged and shook his head.

Mommy spent the afternoon cleaning. She scoured till my bathroom shone, scrubbed till my kitchen sparkled and even had time to polish my mirrors in my bedroom till it gleamed. Even the few minutes before leaving, she was dusting my coffee table and doing the “final mop” of my floors. That broke my heart. She showed how much she cared the only way she knew how – cleaning and caring for my well-being.

Jessie didn’t understand what was going on with all the commotion in the house, and the moving of luggages. By the time dinner rolled around, she was reflecting my emotions. When their luggages were packed into the car, she was lost. She ran hurriedly to the window hoping to catch a glimpse of them, meanwhile they were waiting for her at the door. When we pushed her towards the door, my parents were already in the car. She stood by the staircase, head cocked and lowered, as if asking us where my parents were going.

Goodbyes are always hard. It’s even harder when it is family that you see, if you’re lucky, once a year.

Our five weeks came and went in a blink of an eye.

We cooked, we ate.

We shopped, we acquired.

We gathered, we rejoiced.

We played, we joined.

We parted, we wept.

All good things, must come to an end.

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009

The morning was a little weird without my parents waking up with me.  Even Jessie felt strange without her morning “talks” with my mom.

When I stepped out for lunch today, it just didn’t feel right not dialing home to speak to my parents. Jess didn’t have her afternoon walks, but instead, relieved herself at home and even tp-ed the wee wee pad.

And now, instead of coming home to an aromatic home with dinner waiting, I’m waiting for hubs to make rice and vege to have leftovers.