Hello Son,
It's Saturday! :D
Woo Hoo! As Justine would say.
How fast each week flies by.
Truly, in a blink of an eye.
Even though Mom has not been able to log on to your blog during the week, You have made sure that she knows her son is right beside her every single day. Thanks for that, Son. It's heart-warming each time she gets that ZAP. :D
1. Sunday, July 31
Dad, Mom and Justine were in church that morning.
Everything was as normal as normal could be.
Father S was making some announcements towards the end of the mass.
Mom was waiting for him to come to an end. Only You would know that. Please don't tell God. It's not entirely her fault that she's got a "And Now For Some Announcements" attention deficit disorder.
She was born this way. :D
No, she wasn't listening to his um, sea of words. Sure she was drifting aimlessly on his uh, waves of sentences. Thankfully, she has mastered the art of looking blank but intelligent through years of practice.
Hah.
Who was she kidding? She was just too busy wondering where You were at that moment. Which part of the alter ...
Since the Priest was on the mike, she figured You would probably be sitting - there - where the altar servers sit.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she suddenly heard Father mentioned the word - "Kumbayah."
Mom leaned over to Dad and repeated, "Kumbayah."
She can't remember the whole sentence now only the ZAP word - Kumbayah.
Call 248 : Far Away
So that got her attention. The Priest said :
"There are 44 youths going to Santiago, Spain, for the pilgrimage."
Ah, there it is. Her second ZAP word. There must be TWO, You'd know that by now. :D
Mom nudged Dad, and whispered, "44."
You must have seen your mother smile from ear to ear, as she followed the congregation and got up for the final blessings and ending hymn.
Get her attention, and give her the message.
That's her Son, alright. :D
I'm here, Ma ... :D
Kumbayah and 44 ...
Truly, her highlight of mass that Sunday. :D
We dropped Justine off at HRC for her catechism class and drove on to Bangsar. After breakfast, Dad and Mom walked over to the mall for a cuppa coffee at Starbucks.
We were leaving the place an hour later when we passed by a CD shop. Mom told Dad she wanted to check out the children's CDs. She walked in and asked for assistance. The boy in uniform pointed to her the children's section.
The first thing that caught your mother's attention was the 4 letter
F word : FREE :D
Call 210 : Free Fireflies
FREE this and FREE that.
Mom picked up one of the CDs from the rack.
She inspected the cover with a big grin on her face.
Free Free Free ...
What a nice word. :D
She turned to the back ...
and caught the word HELLO.
Awww ... Hello Son ... :D
How cute to find TWO ZAP words on the CD. She was so meant to find the CD. She could have picked the wrong CD and not find any ZAP word ... but her Son had whispered to her. He must have. How else could she have known which CD to pick up ... and unknown to her ... the next day, this HELLO word would be ringing and echoing in her ears.
Call 225 : Hello Cab
Call 14 : Hello Sebastian2. Monday, August 1
The day passed by quickly in school.
It was evening time, and there were 4 little girls left.
We were outdoors. Mom was not expecting anything to happen. She was more concerned about the time, because she had to get groceries for the school that evening and she didn't want to go too late.
It was about 7 pm already.
Suddenly, the Kumbayah little girl poked her head out from a hole in a play tunnel and said, "Hello."
Call 248 : Far Away
Mom smiled before calling back, "Hello E."
Little E stuck her head out from another hole, and called out again,
"Hello."
Mom replied back, "Hello E."
That started the other 3 girls off ... and soon, they were all yelling out playfully:
"Hello ... Hello ... Hello ..."
At first, Mom was just answering back with a little wave,
"Hello ... Hello ... Hello ..."
However, after the Hello moment, and the little girls ran off to play on the play-climb, Mom began to wonder ...
The sudden burst of Hello Hello Hello in less than a minute ...
She couldn't help it but she heard her heart calling out and replying right then,
Hello Son. :D
It was kinda weird, that today, all the 4 girls did not want to go back. Honestly, it was really strange to observe that.
The day care attendant, Aunty B, noticed that too. Normally, only R would cry when her parents came. Y would ask her Daddy for another 5 minutes, whilst E and M would follow Mommy out of the school gate with a "Bye bye, see you tomorrow."
Today, the 4 parents had to practically carry the children out, with 2 crying and throwing tantrums. When the first two parents came, both their kids fled the opposite direction. By 7:30 pm, another two parents arrived. This time, both the children cried and refused to go back. Their parents had to carry them out, with legs kicking wildly, and arms flapping about in the air, struggling to get down.
Weird.
Power really comes in twos, huh. :D
Mom watched the scenario silently. M's Mommy coaxing her.
Let's go now ...
NO!
It's late already, we'll come again tomorrow ...
NO!
Mommy has to go home and cook dinner.
NO! NO! NO!
Mommy had no choice but to pick up her kid, almost forcefully, as her little girl started to bawl loudly.
Grimace ...
One by one, Mom watched the children kicking up a fuss and throwing a tantrum today.
Hmmm ... Honestly ...
What's that all about ...
After the parents and children left, Aunty B commented the obvious,
"They don't want to go home today ..."
Only today.
And why ...
And why ...
Who's to know ...
Mom has been in school for a month, and this has not happened before. Except for R, who always cry when her parents came to get her.
Oh well ... Kids ...
Unpredictable, wouldn't You say?
We locked up.
Dad came to fetch Mom shortly after. We drove to a nearby hypermarket to get groceries for the school.
At the hypermarket, Dad pushed the trolly while Mom picked up some food items that we needed for school. We were done in less than an hour.
Yeah, we took our time.
At the cashier counter, Mom suddenly remembered she was supposed to get some raisins for Teacher E's Chicken Briyani. You would know that Chicken Briyani is the latest addition to our school's menu. :D
Mom asked Dad to wait by the cashier area, with the trolly, while she ran off to get a box of raisins.
Raisins should be in the cake stuff section.
Flour, cake mixture, decoratives for baking etc. Now where was that section? Mom went from one section to another, trying to locate the raisins, hoping to see a sign that says, Baking Ingredients ... or something of that sort.
As she was walking from the edge of one long panel of shelves to another, she found herself turning into one of the section at one point.
There were all kinds of beverages here.
She walked right to the end, and found no raisins. Turning back, she had barely taken two steps before she suddenly spotted the word:
OLIGO on a beverage packet.
ZAP ZAP ZAP ...
She stopped abruptly in her tracks and stared at the OLIGO packets all lined up neatly at the bottom of the shelves.
Orange Dot Blog
Click on title to read OLIGO story.
OMG ...
When was the last time she heard this word?
Oligo ...
Like ...
Oligodendroglioma and astrocytoma ...
Oh good Lord ... Which person in the right mind would call their coffee OLIGO? What a deadly name for a nice cuppa coffee.
Can You imagine saying :
"Oh, I drink OLIGO's every morning ..."
I see, I see ... OLIGO huh ...
Right ...
Like ... dendroglioma and astrocytoma - Oligo ...
Grimace.
Sarcasm.
Note the natural bitterness that did not come from birth.
And feel the malignant tone that had grown. :S
She inhaled deeply as she looked up from those OLIGO packets, and found herself immediately staring this time, at CAFE 21 coffee packs.
ZAP ZAP ZAP.
OMG ...
Seriously, Cafe 21?
21 ???
It's amazing how You can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word, You can light up the dark
Try as I may, I could never explain
What I hear when You don't say a thing
By Alison Krauss
Yes Son, Mom knows ...
You left on the 21st because of the oligo - dot.
Yeah, it was a very bad dot, and will probably never make it to heaven. It's heart-warming to know that even at the supermarket, You make sure your mother feels your presence. You wanna remind her that you're right beside her all the time.
Honestly, Mom did not have to walk down this aisle. It wasn't the baking / cake section, and she was looking for raisins ... but something made her turn in.
You must have whispered to her.
You must have.
How else do You explain that there are more than 20 aisles in this hypermarket and she had to choose this particular one to turn into? Of course, it's the end of the day, and just before going back, she had to be zapped. Her Son wanted to remind her, as she had asked him to again and again, that he's right beside with her.
Constantly.
It's just amazing, Daniel. :D
Mom walked slowly back to the cashier counter, where Dad was waiting. She didn't get the raisins in the end. It didn't matter anymore. She was too overwhelmed.
Dad was packing up the stuffs back into the trolly. Mom was waiting for the total amount to appear on the till. Would You believe it but the figure that appeared before her was :
RM 144 - 65
She must have sucked in her breath when she saw her angel signs.
Right to the split of a second angel - timing : 20:50:14
Her heart must have skipped a beat.
Is that really You, Daniel?
The Hellos, the 4 kids, Oligo, Cafe 21, and now the RM144 ...
It is, isn't it?
There were just too many signs already.
There were just too many signs already.
Still ...
She couldn't help but wonder. It was too awesome to the point of being unbelievable.
Is it?
Or is Mom just trying too hard to make the connection?
She pulled out three pieces of fifty ringgit notes and handed them to the cashier (RM 150). The counter girl punched some buttons, and the balance that appeared on the till was :
RM 5 - 35
Gasp!
OMG ... Her hand instinctively went up to cup her mouth.
Decode : 4
It's me la, Ma ... :D:D:D
She heard You ... :D
She was so very tired at the end of the day but her heart felt light. Like she was floating. What a perfect close to a perfect day, Son. You were really shopping with Mom, today. Get her attention first, then ZAP. That's your style.
Thank You Lord for the bond between Mother and Child.
Truly, the bond lives on and cannot be severed.
(continue on Call 256)
