Kids have school holidays and only during hols that they don’t have basket ball games in the weekend. Because they are all in different teams ( age wise) and have different schedule, I spend most of my weekends at the game venue. Yesterday, I thought I will take them for fishing. I woke up early, cooked Nasi Lemak  and Rendang and waited for them to wake up. Eventually they woke up.about 12 noon and when they saw the picnic basket, they started complaining “Why didn’t you wake us up early?”

I didn’t wake them up because I know they went to bed very late. When I went to bed at 2 AM,Yaya was watching “gossip girls” on her laptop, my son and baby were talking about the latest Pokemon game, Because it is school holidays and that they are no longer babies, I let them stay up as long as they want to. This staying up late in to the night is nothing but a new thing for them to discover..Ah ! the thrill of not going to bed all night..( I have done it and learned  that no proper sleep for few nights equals a bad migraine and I know my children will eventually find out the hazards of no sleep themselves..like Amma used to say ippathan arinjillenkil, pinne than ariyum.. While I waited for them to wake up, I read the newspaper. I usually never get the chance to read the weekend edition.

Because they woke up late and you don’t really catch a lot of fish mid afternoon, we decided to go for a  drive. We went to Jacob’s well. http://www.visitgoldcoast.com/places-to-see/jacobs-well/

I served lunch and watched Yaya doing the same thing she has done from the time she was 3 years old. She mashed the egg yolk completely and mixed it with the rice and that is the only way Yaya eats Nasi Lemak. You should have seen the happiness on her face.

“Mom, do you remember the Nasi Lemak seller at Ampang point?” She asked.

I nodded my head. Every Friday, her brother had soccer practice and while he was busy, I took Yaya and baby to Ampang point to  eat Nasi Lemak. Then too,Yaya ate the Nasi Lemak with the egg yolk mashed in to the rice. And she ate all the rice in the packet that is not mixed with the sambal and wiped her tears with the back of her palm every time she ate a grain coated with the sauce. I still remember how her bracelet charms  used to jingle every time she wiped her tears. The Makcik who owned the shop would sympathise with Yaya ” Spicy Ah?” and Yaya would grin and say “Ya”,  this to be repeated the very next Friday.

After the lunch, kids went to walk in the beach and  I found a sunny spot to sit down and read my book. It was pretty windy and was getting colder and though I did find a sunny spot, I couldn’t read. I watched my babies..there were little kids in their swim suits and sun hats carrying spades and buckets and making sand castles..They weren’t mine. At one time, mine did the same..but now they are in their shorts and Tshirts..walking among the adults..that it all happened too soon.. One minute she wiped her tears while eating Nasi Lemak and now….she asks why didn’t you make the sambal spicier?

In two years, Yaya will join University.. I can’t actually imagine my life without Yaya in it everyday. I can’t actually imagine not making Nasi Lemak with extra eggs ( she only eats boiled eggs with nasi lemak and only eats the yolk, so I always boil extra eggs for her). I know life is a cycle and all this is expected, but I don’t know why, tears welled up in my eyes. Then I saw her walking towards me and I quickly wiped my tears.

She must have noticed my Rudolph nose ” yo mozza, sup?” She asked. ( Oh, we are in gangster mode lately)

“Nothing” I replied.

She came, sat down next to me and asked ” What is it Mom?” and I told her the truth, that I can’t imagine a life without her..

“Mom, I don’t get it” She said. “Why do people have kids, when they know that the kids will leave one day?”

I smiled and told her ” It is just to see them smashing a perfectly round egg yolk to smithereens”..