I am writing to you from Tangkak in my room with a little light from the wall lamp my mum bought for me in Ikea. I have two of those lamps and each is fitted with bulbs of different colours. Dad installed the wall lamps to my wall and healso fitted the lamps with the bulbs. That is how my dad is Diary. He is the handy man in the family. His skills were passed down to my late brother but itis sad that he left us too soon otherwise there would be two handyman in the family.
I woke up early this morning all thanks to my mum. She always does that whenever and wherever she has the opportunity. I supposed she was going to cook Lodeh thismorning but the main ingredient was missing from the bag full of ingredients we packed from Singapore. upon discovering that, I believed she just had to break the news to me. I woke up to a loud knock on my door and when I hurriedly opened my door, I was welcomed by the news that we had missed the instant coconut milk.So mum couldn't start cooking because the coconut milk is the mother of all ingredients if you are cooking santan. So I walked to the toilet like a zombie, released myself, walked out of the bathroom to the vainity section of the washroom,brushed my teeth, washed my face and drove mum to the nearest shop. I didn't even bother to look at myself in the mirror because I knew i was not going to come out of the car. The shop was just a walking distance from my house and there I was struggling to keep my eyes opened. I chuckled to myself.
I think mum knows how important it is to be able to drive thus she is learning now.She has passed both her basic and final theory test and she has to fulfill 25 hours of practical driving lessons before she is able to sit for her traffic police test. I admire the determination of my mum. Even though age has catch up with her but she still has that force deep within her to be competitive and to achieve what she thinksbeneficial to her and the family. I guess she just does not want to be a burden to us.I supposed she is just making her preparations to retire and live comfortably in Malaysia. The house is built and it is fully furnished and now she is taking her driving license and I bet when she finally gets her license and moved to Tangkak, shewill buy herself a car. Well, I think by then I can afford to buy her the car. InsyaAllah, God's willing.
My dad was up early as usual like mum. They are usually up after Subuh prayer and will be awake until forever I supposed. The thing I noticed about the senior citizens is, having sufficient sleep is secondary to them. It is just amazing how they can goto bed late and be the first one to be up the next morning. I wish many times thatI have that kind of spirit or habit but it's all in vain.
When we got home from the shop, mum started cooking immediately and I helped dad with the installation of the garden lamps. There were four lamps altogether and dad wantedto install them on the fence poles. I wondered how was he going to do that when the fence has no sturdy and wide poles. The fence that we have around our house was the regular green wired fence. Now Diary, I bet you would be wondering too, but dad is just amazing. Dad has been an electrician for all his life, a contractor for about four years of his life and a building manager for twenty years. With his vast experiences, he had thought of a wonderful idea and he made it work. He brought his ideas into reality. I helped him with the fixing and installations of his little project. When it rained, we stopped for awhile. When the rain stopped, we carried on. We finished his little project by five in the evening. Mum, bro and myself helped himpacked his stuffs and we congratulated dad on his creative ideas. It was more than creative Diary, it was brilliant!!
When the sun sets and the moon rises, we switched on the switch and we saw all four lamps lit up perfectly. There was only one discrepancy that I have noticed and dad admitted this. One of the lamp tilted more to the left and it was not perfectly horizontally straight. I studied it but who could have asked him to perfect itwhen we all know he had spent all his time today from morning till evening making his little fantasy into life? Who could in his position to comment on it when we all saw how dad has sweat it out just to brighten up the garden for all to see? Dad's work is probably not perfect to the 'America's Got Talent' judges and to some people but it will forever be perfect to me. It is not because he is my dad,but it is because of the effort he puts in, the time he sacrificed, the hard work he had to endure, the energy he had to spend and the reason why he did it; to brighten the dark landscape. You know Diary, his main reason is probably to brighten the landscape but if only he knows he has brighten up each and everyoneof us little hope that someday there is some light from the garden in out home.
Seeing how brightly lit the garden now, I only wish that my late brother would still be alive so he could celebrate this special small moment of success, triumph and happiness with us. He probably is from where he is now...i supposed. I hope.
Selamat Aidiladha Abang...we all miss you so, so much.
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