This morning, after sending Dad to the coach station for a day trip outstation, she came back to the condo, went into the lift and pressed button 9.
Aunty D's place.
Mom went to visit Megan and Baby Dylan, and was at their home for about half an hour. Aunty D put on Barbie Popstar and Dylan starting moving his body and bouncing up and down on his knees.
Yup he was dancing alright. :D
After awhile, Aunty D mentioned, "Hey, who was the one who sent the Long Pan video? Megan loves the video. Likes to watch it all the time ..."
Mom said, "I sent that. Yeah, that's funny ..."
Mom had received that video during the Chinese New Year season from a friend and had forwarded that video to the family whatsapp.
Aunty D put it on again.
We watched it again.
After it ended, Mom happened to be watching the screen and spotted the name DANIEL VEERAPEN.
Oh yes. She remembers now. This video had zapped her when she first viewed it during the new year break.
Daniel Veerapen.
Mom said out loud, "What are the chances? Daniel Veerapen? Dr Veerapen was Daniel's first doctor ..."
The first doctor who gave you first brain surgery.
You must have whispered to Aunty D to show Mom that video again. :D
Megan was getting ready for her ballet class that was starting at 10:15 am.
Time for Mom to leave. Before that, Aunty D said, "Let's go Jojo (noodles restaurant) after Megan's ballet."
Your mother said, "Okay. Call me."
Meanwhile, she went home (one floor up) and woke Justine up.
Fast forward ...
At 11:20 am, Aunty D called to say they were on their way to pick Mom and Justine up from the condo. "They" being Aunty D, Uncle C and Megan.
We were in the car.
Uncle C was driving.
Everything was just very normal.
We reached the restaurant. There was a parking bay 2 shop lots away from the restaurant.
As Uncle C was turning into the parking spot, the song YOU SAY IT BEST WHEN YOU SAY NOTHING AT ALL came on the radio.
Oh my.
Mom held her breath.
She glanced at her time on her handphone.
11:43 pm.
Quickly, she jotted the time on her note pad.
Secret code : 14 | 4
Mom didn't say anything out loud to anyone as she didn't want to spoil the moment.
The moment she tries to blurt out that a zap was happening, the magic disappears. She knows that now.
She smiled to herself and hugged herself gleefully.
We walked to the restaurant.
It wasn't packed. We walked over to a large table and sat down.
Mom sat with Justine on one side.
Aunty D was opposite your mother, with Megan and Uncle C on her side.
Mom did not expect anything at all, but the moment Uncle C sat down, she felt herself sucking in her breath.
Omg ...
UP ...
Uncle C was wearing a tee shirt that had the words UP on the front.
Omg ...
She instantly remembered the tee shirt Uncle C wore during the first day of Chinese New Year that bore the words JACK DANIELS.
Mom wanted to take a photo of her eviDANS, but how ...
Suddenly, Megan took Aunty D's cell and snapped a photo of Mom and Justine.
Aunty D said, "Show Teacher Lynn the photo ..."
Megan showed us the photo that she took.
Pause.
Grin.
That was your doing, Mom knows.
It gave her the opportunity to say, "Okay, now Teacher Lynn's turn to take your photo. Huddle close, you guys ..."
Snap!
Truly Daniel, everywhere we are, there You'll be ... <3
Our food came.
In the middle of all the munching and chomping down of food, Aunty D asked Justine, "So Jus, do you know a guy called Daniel? He was from your school. He says he knows you and Daniel ..." (the Daniel guy being Aunty D's patient)
Your sister doesn't remember the Daniel guy.
Then Mom said, "Justine says there're 2 guys in her group, her juniors, very alike in personality and character ... her friends also agree that they both are similar in the way they move and talk ... and you know what ... one guy is called Daniel and the other guy is Jason ..."
Aunty D exclaimed, "What?!"
Yeah, like -- what!
What are the chances???
Justine smiled and nodded, "Yes, that's true ..."
"The Daniel guy was born in 1994, and Jason is one year younger," said your sister.
1994 was your birth year.
Awesome.
Mom leaned over to Aunty D and said in low tones, "You know the shirt (Uncle) C is wearing ... UP ... that's the last movie I saw with him (You) ..."
Aunty D frowned, "UP??? What movie is that? Never heard of it ..."
Mom smiled.
ZAP ZAP ZAP.
You were definitely with us, Daniel.
Come to think of it, there was an empty seat on our table.
The one opposite Uncle C. Take a look at the photo again.
Mom was opposite Aunty D, Justine opposite Megan.
Empty chair opposite UP.
Gosh oh gosh oh gosh.
Truly, You say it best when You say nothing at all.
Omg, what are the chances that this song came on just as we were parking the car? Had we parked the car just ONE MINUTE earlier, we would have missed the song.
OMG ...
Truly Daniel, all your video games' skills and precision ... they all come in handy now, don't they? There was a reason why You were good in video games. It was the video games that brought strength back to your hands after that last and final operation.
We continued eating.
Aunty D asked, "Got photo of the Daniel and Jason ah?"
Justine started scrolling through her gallery and showed us the first photo. The Daniel boy was with a dog called ANGEL. Yup, the dog's name was ANGEL. The ANGEL name was on the fb comment.
Mom said, "Angel? The dog's name?"
Aunty D echoed, "Who would call their dog Angel?"
Hmmm ...
Then Justine showed us a second photo. It was the Jason boy. He was carrying some kind of a rainbow poster.
Mom asked in disbelief, "Rainbow?"
Honestly, what are the chances??? TWO queer inciDANS that zap zap zapped your mother through and through.
Mom teleported her spirit to somewhere over the rainbow right at the moment.
Grin.
Gosh Daniel Jason Phua, how do You do it? How???
Mom suddenly heard herself saying, "You see Megan's HELLO KITTY tee shirt ... do you know that HELLO KITTY's partner is DEAR DANIEL???"
Aunty D has never heard of it.
She's not from this planet, you know right. Hehe.
Mom said, "I didn't know either. One of the children in school told me."
Yes, true story.
Mom found herself concentrating on the word SMILE on Megan's tee shirt.
You must have whispered to Mom.
Look at the word SMILE, Ma ... :D
Mom thought to herself, "Could it be the MILE that is talking to her?"
Shrug.
After we were done with lunch, we walked to the car.
We all got into the car.
Listen carefully here now okay.
The moment Uncle C started the car, the song WIND BENEATH MY WINGS was on the radio.
One line passed ...
Mom listened quietly.
And then, before she knew it, the next line came on and zapped her :
A beautiful SMILE to hide the pain ...
She sat up right.
Omg ...
Seriously???
Omg ...
Mom held the precious moment to herself.
She looked out of the window and surrendered her mind body and soul to the rest of the song.
A beautiful smile to hide the pain ...
Pause to reflect.
This comes to mind.
That everyone who met You in Lourdes said You had a beautiful smile. One man even went to the extent of saying that You had the most beautiful smile in Lourdes.
click to view Orange Dot Blog
Oh my, would You look at those words?
Smile! It's FREE ...
FREE???
ZAP ZAP ZAP!
We were in Taman Desa. Aunty D asked, "So what's your plans?"
Mom said, "Might have to go to IKEA to get some more storage boxes ..."
Five seconds later, Aunty D blurted out, and pointed, "Hey, look! IKEA truck! Just when we were talking about IKEA. It's a sign ... you have to go to IKEA ..."
Chuckle.
ZAP ZAP ZAP.
It's a sign alright, Son.
That everywhere we are, there You'll be ... <3
We miss You so very much, Son ... <3
Keep the zaps coming ... and stay close, Daniel Jason ...
