This draft has been waiting patiently in the draft box to be completed and published.
MONDAY, MAY 21
Your 28th month.
That morning in school, this photo below of this 6 year old boy, was taken. Mom can't remember now whether she took this photo or one of the teachers did. She only noticed the hand sign upon downloading on to the computer.
21 ...
Yes Son ... it was your 21st that day.
How queer that this kid put up his fingers in this manner.
What a coinciDANS, don't You think?
The photo was taken at 8:32 am, as recorded.
Decode : 4
21 and 4 ...
Who else could it be?
Nobody, nobody but YOU ...
That was easy, Son ...
Later that morning, a 3 year old boy saw your mother entering his class, and came running towards her. He ran into her open arms and gave her a big hug. This is one of the little things that happen in school to keep your mother going. Anyway, as Mom loosened her embrace and gently pulled him apart, she saw the DINOSAUR and the HARRY POTTER SLASH on his tee shirt.
ZAP ZAP ZAP.
She had mentioned both DINOSAUR and HARRY POTTER SLASH in your Orange Dot Blog.
DOT 2 : DISTANCE
"Fliends for Linner."
DOT 38 : FISHMONGER
"Harry Potter slash."
Bear in mind that the boy who played Harry Potter is named DANIEL.
Somehow, things just have a way of being connected to You.
How is that possible ... unless it's been -- planned?
This is surely to remind your family that you're near near NEAR. :D
And all the time too. :D
TUESDAY, MAY 22
Fast forward ...
Mom was on the way back to school after dropping the last kid off at Taman Seputeh.
She was at the time singing GEYLANG SI PAKU GEYLANG loudly in the car.
Yeah, loudly ...
Haha.
Our Parents' Day was on Saturday May 26 ... and the children would be demonstrating their musical skills on rhythm sticks and shakers to this song ... apart from two other songs. The GEYLANG song had stuck in her head and she had in fact been humming it the whole time in the car. It was only after ALL the kids were sent home, and she was ALONE, did she begin to ummm, exercise, her lungs.
Grin.
Here are the lyrics.
Geylang sipaku geylang
Geylang si rama - rama
Pulang marilah pulang
Marilah pulang bersama-sama
Jangan memegang arang
Letak di dalam raga
Jangan mengata orang
Diri sendiri baik dijaga
Those are the lyrics that your mother was singing to in the car.
Dengan bersungguh-sungguh.
Grin.
As she was turning into Taman Desa, she suddenly noticed the car in front of her with the number plate :
JGN 442
Decode : 24 | 4
The time on the dashboard showed 4:59 pm.
Decode : 144
Omg ...
Your mother was suddenly alerted to the letters JGN.
Oh Gosh ...
ZAP ZAP ZAP ...
JGN ...
JGN ???
Are You kidding her?
JGN ???
As in --- JANGAN ... memegang arang ...
JANGAN ... mengata orang ... ???
Oh Gosh ...
Are You singing along with Mom, Daniel?
You are, aren't You?
Otherwise, Mom wouldn't have seen the JGN 442 sign.
You must have whispered to Mom to take notice of the car.
What are the chances?
Honestly, what are the chances?
That was just super-awesome.
Everywhere we are, there You'll be ... :D
Always, Daniel ...
FRIDAY, MAY 25
There was a period of 10 days that Mom was not able to call You.
From May 21st to May 31st.
Despite not being able to make those calls, You continued to send your mother little signs here and there to remind her again and again and again that You are near.
Anyway ...
It was orange and black/white.
Instantly, she thought of the GEYLANG song.
That must be the si rama-rama. :D
Mom snapped a photo.
Dad was with her. He looked on as she crouched down slowly to take a shot.
Geylang si rama-rama ...
Pulang, marilah pulang ...
Marilah pulang, bersama-sama ...
For many reasons, those lyrics brought a big smile to your mother's face. :D
Only God knows ... her own personal interpretation of those lines.
And You, of course.
You know everything now.
Marilah pulang, bersama-sama ...
Sunday, May 27
Parents' Day came and went smoothly. Although one of the staff called at the very last minute to say she was unable to attend to assist, Mom had the spiritual assurance that the day would go okay.
Yup, sometimes she surprises herself with her ...a fraction of a dot-sized mustard seed of faith.
So anyway ...
On Sunday, whilst waiting for Justine and Dad to get ready for church, Mom logged on to check the HELLO SON blog. Her last call then was on May 21st.
Call 366 : 28th Month
She went through that entry, was reminded of the inciDANS by the photos, in particular the photo of the time on the dashboard showing 1:11 pm, and the photo of the car with the number plate DH 1111 ...
Not surprisingly, she found herself thinking out loud, "So many ones that day ..."
Both decoded as : 21 / 4
At the end of that call - entry, she found her eyes setting on the time of publication.
Posted by Lynn Phua at 11:12 pm.
Hmmm ...
She had noted lightly at the time, and thought nothing more of it.
She started her call ...
Hello Son ...
Pause ...
Pause ...
Pause some more ...
After a few minutes, of staring at your blog and photos of your handsome face on the panel :D (every mother is programmed to see their child as beautiful), including that HAND SIGN by YOU and Justine on the WE ARE YOUNG photo, Mom decided to log off. She was not able to gather her thoughts to write in peace, as the maid was ambitiously busy with the crankily disobedient vacuum cleaner then.
Some more pause ...
Showing off, are we, Ma? :D
Hahaha ...
So anyway, when it was time, we went to church.
We were not late, we were right on time.
Everybody else was just too darn early.
By the way, don't pick up the darn word. Mama Mary will disapprove. :D
The church was already packed ... as usual.
We sat outside.
There was a projector screen hanging just right in front of us.
Mom looked at it.
She blinked ... and looked again.
Omg ...
ZAP ZAP ZAP ...
What a coinciDANS ...
You must have whispered to Mom to take notice of the publication time on the blog earlier :
11:12 pm
What are the chances of seeing these numbers again so soon after she saw it on the blog?
Mom had to smile. You really have a way of making your presence felt.
Mom whispered to Dad, on her right ... and then leaned over to whisper to Justine, who was sitting on the right of Dad.
This morning bla bla bla 1112 ...
Now look up there bla bla bla 2111 ...
Omg
Mom took out her cellphone to take her eviDANS. She ignored the people sitting around her, who definitely must have seen her taking a photo of the projector screen ... probably thinking she would be doing some intense reading of the Bible that night.
Hahaha ...
After church, we went for breakfast.
Then we dropped Justine and the maid back at the condo ... your sister is in the middle of her exam period ... whilst Dad and Mom went to the mall. Mom's computer crashed that time, and there was a PC fair at the mall. Sunday being the last day.
In the car, Mom was singing softly to herself.
Parents' Day was over.
She was thinking of a new song for the kindermusical band. This time, the children would use castanets, she thought. They have done a demonstration with hand bells, rhythm sticks and shakers.
The song SURIRAM came to mind.
It was a favorite of your mother's. S
She was just waiting for the right time to introduce the song to the children.
That time has come ...
Here are the lyrics ...
Note the ram, ram, ram ...
Suriram ram, Suri ram ram ram
Suriram ku yang manis
Aduhai Suriram sayang
Makin dipandang semakin manis
It is interesting to note that some of the lyrics have "evolved" and different singers may pronounce our Malay word differently. Nevertheless, it is adorable to see and hear other children / adults beyond our shores sing this song that is dear to our hearts.
How cute is that. <3
You probably did not learn this song in school, Daniel, although Mom learned it in kindergarten. Our traditional songs kinda disappeared when your generation came.
Here are 3 videos of Suriram.
Go have a listen. :D
It's not too late to learn it ...
Pittsford, New York
Singapore
Grammy award winning South African Singer, Miriam Makeba
So anyway ...
Where were we?
Ah, yes ... Dad and Mom were in the car, on the way to the mall. Mom was singing SURIRAM softly to herself. Loud enough for Dad to hear, of course. You'll see why that is important.
Your father is a potential witness to an inciDAN which was about to happen. :D
We parked the car, and walked to the mall. Mom was still singing.
Suriram, ram, Suriram, ram ram ...
Passing by a computer outlet, Dad went in. Mom stayed outside the shop, entertaining herself as she continued to sing, at the same time, thinking of how the castanets would come in and at which part of the SURIRAM song.
Dad called Mom to go over. He wanted to show Mom a model.
Your mother does not have the faintest idea of which model to consider. She would leave it to Dad to decide.
So Mom walked over, to take a look at the models that were on offer.
She saw this one and ...
Omg ...
Gasp ...
Mom pointed to the RRR - AYE - AMM.
You see the RAM?
"Omg, he's singing the SURIRAM with me ..."
Dad kinda laughed.
Mom was all serious as she stared at the screen.
She caught sight of the word FREE.
Gasp ...
FREE ???
Omg ...
See the photo of You in your pink FREE tee shirt, on the left side of the panel on the blog.
Before she knew it, she was alerted to the price : NOW AT RM1,999
That triggered her brains to work faster - than - the - speed - of - light to reveal the secret code that lies within.
Decode : 244
Omg ...
You can't be serious ...
What are the chances ...
That was the number that Mom had spotted when she was singing the GEYLANG song in the car earlier that week, on Tuesday.
Mom burst out excitedly, "Son's singing with me ... Omg ... The first time, was GEYLANG ... JGN 442 ... You remember, I told You ... Jangan memegang arang ... This is the second time ... You see the RAM ... You heard me, I was singing SURIRAM since church and in the car, and even now at the shop .... See the 1999 ... That's 244 ... And FREE ... don't forget the FREE ... Omg ... I can't believe this ... What are the chances??? He's really singing with me ..."
Honestly, what are the chances of finding all the uh, eviDANS?
Would You look at all the clues?
Gosh, no chance ...
Only angel chance ...
You must have whispered to Dad to get Mom to go over to the screen ... because once she got there, it was ZAP ZAP ZAP all the way. :D
How incredible.
Honestly, how incredible.
Every little thing reminds us of You.
It's awesome ...
Allow a few minutes here for the dust to settle.
So Daniel ...
Don't You like the song?
Suriram ram, Suriram ram ram ... :D
Hahaha ...
Mom knew You'd catch on ...
