Call 496 : ZAP POEM

Hello Son, 


Monday, Sept 23


On Monday 23rd in school, Mom was in front of her monitor. 



It was still very early in the morning, she decided to check on her emails. She was waiting for that "trophy" girl to give her a reply. The trophy girl being the lady who's helping us with the trophies for our students. 



Anyway, a notification from a friend whom she has not heard from for a long time, caught her attention. 



Her friend had tagged her with a short text : This is for you, Lynn Phua.



As You know, normally where these notifications come in, she would leave them be. She's in school anyway. There's just no time to check on facebook comments or whatever. 



However, that Monday, in school, she found herself going on to the link. That would be something out of the ordinary, she has to admit. You must have whispered to her.



Check out the link, Ma ... :D



And so she did.



It was a poem apparently ...



She was soon reading each line to herself ...

As I sit in heaven

And watch you everyday 

I try to let you know with signs

I never went away

I hear you when you're laughing

And watch you as you sleep

I even place my arms around you

To calm you as you weep

I see you wish the days away

Begging to have me home

So I try to send you signs

So you know you are not alone

Don't feel guilty that you have

Life that was denied to me

Heaven is truly beautiful

Just you wait and see

So live your life, laugh again

Enjoy yourself, be free

Then I know with every breath you take

You'll be taking one for me

Pause ...



Omg ...



Pause more ...



Her eyes were suddenly blurry and wet.



Her chest hurt.



She was soon checking the details of the tag / text. 


 
Sept 22 @ 7:32 pm via mobile.



She stared at the details. Her friend had sent her that poem on Sept 22 @ 7:32 pm.



Oh --- my --- gosh ...



Seriously???



Sept 22? 



Decode : 4



7:32 pm ? 



Decode : 21



Gosh ...



Would You take a look at the poem and tell her what You think?



Look .. 



Look at the word SIGN that appears TWO times in the poem ... followed by FREE.



Omg ...



What are the chances of SIGN and FREE appearing together in this manner? 



Surely this poem is written and meant for Mom? 



Surely it is not unreasonable for her to think so?



Oh, for cryin' out loud, surely she was meant to read the signs in this way?



Surely!



Omg, surely!



She wasted no time, in copying the poem, pasting and publishing it in her poem blog.



She posted the link onto your facebook page.

AS I SIT IN HEAVEN 

Pretty Pink Poetry Blog

The next day, on Tuesday 24th ...

Mom was in the car, driving to pick up a 2 year old girl.

At one point, along the way, a song had come on the radio. 

Another day has gone ...

She did not pay much attention to it because, don't tell Dad, but Mom missed a turning and she's now about to drive to "Seremban." That God-forsaken place did not have a U-turn and she had to like, drive on and on and on, forever and ever, along the road until she found a turning to the right. Her intention was to take that right turn, and then somehow make her U-turn there. She made that right turn ... only to find out that there was no U-turn ... that lane took her deeper into a housing area ...

Omg ...

It was only when these lines burst through that she realized her son is reminding her that she's not alone.

You are not alone ...

I am here with you ...

The time was 9:09 am.

Decode : 144

 

Suddenly, she reacted as she remembered.

Gasp.

Yesterday's poem ...

Omg ...

There was something about you are not alone in that poem too.

Gosh Daniel ...

You are not alone ...

You're telling Mom twice.

Twice You're telling, Mom.

Twice. 

Two times.

She got it, Son ... she got it. 

She got your message.

Blink blink blink.

You are not alone, Ma ... 

I am here with you ... :D

On hindsight Son, Mom would like to ask, did You or did You not ... somehow make her miss the turning? 

Mom thinks You did. 

You did, didn't You?



Well?

Had she taken the correct turn, she would have arrived at the girl's place, and as usual, when the girl hops into the van, she (Mom) would automatically switch from radio to DVD cartoon. Your mother would have missed the song.  

For sure.

Guaranteed.

Mom's shaking her head in -- happy -- disbelief.

Strange, isn't it? She has not taken the wrong road before to this place. The day that she decide to miss the turning in, and got herself all lost and alone in an unfamiliar area, the song YOU ARE NOT ALONE came on to zap her.

ZAP ZAP ZAP ...

Thank you for that, Son ... please do keep reminding Mom okay?

She is not alone ... 

Sniff sniff ...

Call 495 : MUSIC BOX

Hello Son, 


Sunday, Sept 22


After Sunday mass, your family people went to the mall.



Dad, Justine, Aunty D & Megan, Aunty C and Mom. 



And Megan's maid. 



By the way, Mom's never told You how Megan's maid was first introduced to her. 



It could have been in the month of July. 



The very first time, Mom met Megan's maid was when she came to school with Megan one day. Mom still remember, when the maid walked into the kindy, Mom was zapped by the word FREE on her tee shirt.



This same tee shirt below.

Aunty C with Baby Megan. Maid Maria in the FREE red tee shirt.

Your mother's first thoughts were obviously, "Did You send this maid to us, Daniel?"



Mom asked her her name.



The girl answered, "Maria ..."



Mom echoed, "Maria?"



Oh ...



What are the chances? Honestly, what are the chances?



A million and one names in the world, and this girl with the F-R-E-E printed on her clothing, has a name that brought nothing but ZAP ZAP ZAP to your mother.



Maria ...



FREE and Maria ...

By Denise Daffara

Gosh, if that doesn't bring back memories of You in Lourdes, what will?



Anyway, it would soon become apparent to your family that You had indeed brought this maid to us. Someday, Mom's gonna tell You about our maid's incident. Yes, You brought up all her sickening lil acts, revealing them one by one, and ending with a crescendo. 



It's a long story ... your mother will tell You about it some day.



So anyway, we were at the mall.



We had breakfast ... before hanging out at Starbucks in Borders. Justine wanted to do some work in Starbucks. Aunty C said, fine, she will too. So that's how we all ended up there.



Shortly after, Dad and Mom left for another bookstore. 



MPH.



Mom walked over to the preschool books.



Here look ...



There look ...



Everywhere look look ...



Soon, she found herself staring at this cover with a big smile :

FREE 44  ... downloadable interactive charts  ...



Grades 1 - 2 ...



Mom had to smile as she saw her angel number 21 secretly smiling back.



It was the day after your 21st then. Mom was still very fresh with all the 44 and 21 zaps that had been going on on your 44th month. 



Seriously, what are the chances of having her 44 and 21 at the same line on the cover?



Slim chance.



Angel chance.



Meant for her.



Only her.



Nobody in their right mind would take their cellphone to snap a photo of that cover. 



Not in the angle that she did anyway.



That was a clear, definite, cheery :



Hi Ma ... :D



all the way from Mama Mary's heavenly cottage up in heaven. 

So anyway ... she finally left the bookstore about two hours later, after laying her hands on every book that she thought was interesting but ah, not interesting enough for her to bring home. :D



Dad and Mom went back to Starbucks to re-join the gang.



About an hour later, and after way too much caramel macchiato in her body, we decided to go home. 



We all got up, and left the coffee place together. 



However, from that coffee spot to the entrance of Borders, for some reason, along the way, Mom was separated from the rest ... because at one point, near the "gifts" area, she suddenly found herself hearing a familiar tune that sounded like it came from a musical-box --- and she had gasped. 



Oh gosh, You're so not gonna believe this but the musical tune was playing :



Somewhere Over The Rainbow

She glanced at her mobile immediately.



The time was 2:04 pm.



A big smile spread across her face.



Oh my gosh ... what a wonderful moment that was for her.



24 ...



How much more perfect can this be??? 



Turning around abruptly for Dad or Justine or anyone in your family who might have heard the tune too so we could all squeal together, she saw no one in sight. 



Where's Dad? 



Aiyahhh ... where's Dad?



Where's Justine?



Aiyohhh ... where's Justine?



Where's everybody? (your line from the hospital bed)

Where did everybody go?



Humming under her breath, Mom turned and walked towards the music that seemed to be calling out to her. She could just imagine that she would soon find a ballerina twirling around a tiny music box on one of the gift-shelves nearby. 



She would buy it.



She doesn't have a musical box.



Of course she would buy it.



No -- matter -- how -- much -- it -- costs ...



Oh wait, wait, cut out that last line ...


 

Frowning ...



She had walked around the gift shelves. 



Where is the sound coming from?


 
Where is it? 



Megan's favourite line, by the way ...



Where is it? 



She soon traced the tune to this :

 

 (photo from the internet)

There were 3 teenage boys checking the music box out at the material time.  



They soon changed the tune but oh, it didn't matter ...



because she received her most glorious zap already.



Somewhere Over The Rainbow ... at 2:04 pm ...



(24 being your birthdate)


 
Mom went to look for the gang.



They were still around the Starbucks vicinity, believe it or not.



Isn't it strange? We had all gotten up from the table together, yet your mother was the only one who had walked on ahead until she reached the "gifts" area -- when she heard the tune. In fact, she had no idea that the rest were not following behind. Had she waited for everyone to be ready before leaving the place, she would have missed the tune zap.



Somewhere Over The Rainbow ...



at such a perfect time too ... 



2:04 pm ...



Omg ...

You must have whispered to those boys to play the RAINBOW tune first ... for your mother obviously, because when Dad and the rest passed that music box, it was playing a different tune already. The boys were still there ... otherwise Mom would have gone to check the music box out.



Another time for sure.



As your family people were making their way to the car, your mother was deep in thought and mentally, hugging herself with glee. 



Think about it ...


 
She was summoned to go to another bookstore (MPH) first to receive the first zap ...



Free ...



44 ...



21 ...



(21 being your date of departure)



and then back to Borders to get her second zap. 



Two ... always two zap inciDANS ... otherwise your mother might not know it's from You.



Gosh Son, it's just --- awesome ...



Truly God's Plan is perfect. 



He really is good to us. <3

Call 494 : THANK YOU

Hello Son, 


Saturday, Sept 21


After publishing Call 493, Mom went out with Aunty C to the hair salon.



We were there for like 2 hours.



After that, Mom asked Aunty C to swing by the stationery shop. Your mother needed to get some fancy paper to print certificates. In fact, she had already bought a stack last week.



Justine had printed on them. However, after the teachers checked the certs, there were some spelling errors, and those had to be amended, and re-printed. 



Except that we had used up all those nice fancy papers.



And so, Mom ran in to the stationery shop, as Aunty C waited by the side of the road. 

It was dark. 



Mom did not want to take her handbag out. She pulled out a fifty dollar note and stuffed it into her back pocket, before hurrying into the shop.



She found her papers.






She counted 10 sheets, before heading towards the cashier.



From the corner of her eye, she saw that grumpy-looking, unsmiling guy -- there. 



His counter was closed. 



Oh goodie. 



She stood in line at the second cashier. There was only one other customer, in front of her.



As luck would have it, Grumpy signaled to your mother, and motioned her to his counter. 



H-huh? 



Oh well ...



She stepped over, placed her papers on the counter, and tried her best to look as cold and unfriendly as she could. Yeah yeah, You must have seen your mother making special efforts to make sure she was looking down the whole time, as she did not want to have any eye contact with that --- that --- ugly-looking man.



Grin.



Hah! Maybe that's why he can't smile --- because he's ugly.



Hahaha ...



She was determined not to have any eye contact with Grumpy, because in the past, when she did try to look him in the eye, to say thank-you or to offer a smile after her purchase, he had ignored her ... 



Nope, she's not kidding ... he had totally looked away like she was some kind of fly or something ... and that ... that ... that ... 



IRKED her.

Of course, she had grumbled to Dad about her disgust and displeasure each time that happened ... it happened twice already okay ... and Dad had said, don't go there anymore. 



It's not like she wanted to go there again --- like, EVERRR --- it was just --- convenient.



So anyway, there was Mom with her sour-dough face, looking down on the counter, waiting for Grumpy to punch punch punch the cash register.



Finally ...



"Six ringgit," he said quite flatly.



She handed him her fifty ringgit note ... still looking down. 

She's not taking any chances. 



No, she's not ... because if she choose to look at him and he choose to ignore her -- 



again --- she will ... she will ...



(wait, wait for blood pressure to shoot to the stars ...)



she would give him a large piece of her mind and then --- 

pounce on him and kick him in the ...



Ma!



Her silent thoughts were somehow, somewhat --- interrupted.



Guiltily, she hung her head even lower, as she waited for the change. 



He handed her the change and the receipt, and OMG, You're so not gonna believe this but it was accompanied by a gruff, almost reluctant:



"Thank you ..."



Say what?



Holy shhhhh ... mackerel.



Did she hear right?



She did.



She did.



Grumpy said thank you???

Very much taken aback with surprise, but still carefully avoiding eye contact -- yeah never again will she ever try to look at Grumpy in the eye again, thank you or not -- she accepted her change with a hurried mutter of thanks herself.



It was at that moment that she saw ...



Time stood very still.



Oh what a precious moment.



Mom literally heard and felt your presence immediately. It was like a sudden feeling of warmness just ... cascaded down on her. Is there such a thing?



ZAP ZAP ZAP ...

44  ...



Oh how wonderful ...



Her angel number stared back.



A big smile spread across your mother's face. She was practically grinning from to ear as she left the shop. 



Her son's 44th month that day. 



She had called him earlier to tell him all about the zap inciDANS that day.



He nose ...



He definitely nose everything that was going on.



Oh, and he sure as heaven nose what she was thinking about ...



Um, her nice thoughts ...

Tsk tsk tsk ... :D



You must have whispered to the guy to say thank you. 



Yeah, You must have.



Say thank you ...



Thank you, Son ... for staying close and reminding Mom every day that You're near ... <3

Call 493 : 44th MONTH

Hello Son, 



Today is your 44th month away from us.



How 44 months could slip by, Mom will never know.



The school keeps her busy.



That was the master plan, wasn't it?



God's master plan?



Could You go take a peek in Jesus' big book?



Without getting into trouble?



Tell Ma what it says. 

Oh sigh, it was just - weird - how your mother was lured back into the kindy scene many many many months after You left. How many now? (screwing up face to figure ...) If not for the running of the school and God's little children all around her, she would not have been able to go from day to day ... to day ... to day ... to ...



... would You look at her now ... 44 months has passed ... in a blink of two eyes. There is not a single fraction of a moment that You are not in your mother's thoughts and mind, Daniel. You know that, don't You? Mom can feel your presence throughout the day ... with the lil zaps and signs. 



Last weekend, Mom was cleaning out the cupboard in the guest room. She came across your underwears. The ones that have those creeply crawlie and animal prints on them.


It's just too awesome ... the find ... because that would soon lead her to a big ZAP that would happen a few days later.



Does this happen to everybody --- like everybody --- who has someone up in heaven?



Ear to the monitor, straining to listen ...





Hmmm ...


 
Or, maybe ... perhaps maybe, this --- connection --- is only for mothers.



Mother and Son.



As the Lord intended.



Pause ...
 


Don't correct her if she's wrong ...



So anyway ...



Last Saturday 14th, Mom was cleaning out the wardrobe in the guest room. She came across your underwears. Yeah, the ones with the creepy crawlie and animal prints on it. She's talking about one in particular, the scorpion one.



Isn't it weird that in her life, there was a scorpion incident? Mom was really young then. We were in the estates. She was 12 years old, or thereabouts. She was at the time outside the bungalow compound when she saw a large black crab-like thing crawling. 



She had yelled out, and Grandpa appeared. 



To cut a long story short, that black thing turned out to be a scorpion.



When she bought that box of underwear, she wasn't able to tell that they came with silly prints on them. Until You reacted and said something to this effect, "Why do you have to buy scorpion underwears for me?"



Chuckle.



And so, the image of that scorpion underwear stuck.



So anyway, last Saturday, she saw those underwears again.



She kept them neatly in the cupboard.

On Wednesday 18th, in school, a 5 year old girl, X, the same one who said she lives "far far away" (Mom told You about this in one of the calls) came to your mother's desk. 



The girl was soon chatting about this and thats.



Mom pulled out some phonic cards for her to read. 



Each card has 4 words.



X began to read the words.



It was barely 10 words later, when X pointed to the word nose and said, "scorpion."



Raising an eyebrow, Mom exclaimed, "Scorpion? How does that read scorpion? It's ann - o - ass -- ee ... It starts with Nnn ..."



X appeared not to know how to pronounce that, so Mom said, "Nose ..."



X repeated, "Nose ..." and then continued reading out the other words on the deck of cards, one by one. Your mother's brains went into over-drive.



Before long, about 20 words later, X said, "Scorpion" again.



Oh my Lord ... are You kiddin' me? 



What are the chances?



Scorpion, a second time?



Seriously?



It's Me la, Ma ... :D

This time, the word X pointed at was Zipper.



X was about to continue, but Mom stopped her. 



"That's not scorpion ... Z -- I  -- P ..." your mother read out the alphabets.



"What's zuh-ip?" 



"ZUP--IP ... " Mom repeated.



X said again, "Scorpion ..."



By the way, this is a bright child, able to read phonetically, and pronounce most words in our reading books. In fact, she is one of the girls in her class receiving a certificate for reading up to 50 books this year. 



It was really strange that she said this SCORPION word, like out of nowhere. We were doing THE WEATHER MAN last week (Mon 16th to Fri 20th), and there's no way she would have caught this word from circle time or in class.



X did not correct herself because would You believe it, (boy, You wouldn't believe it ...) but the intercom buzzed ... and we both heard the teacher called out, 



"X .. time to go home ... Mummy's here ..."



X's mother had come to pick her up. 



Mom said, "Okay ... You can go ... "



X ran off happily ... leaving your mother quite dumbfounded.





Pause ...



 

What was that?



Rewind please.



Nose ... Zipper ... How is it connected to the Scorpion?



All of a sudden, she gets that --- familiar --- enlightenment. 



Smiling to herself she started deducing under her breath, "Nose ... like - knows ... You know ... Right, You know ... what do You know ... zipper ... the only thing that zipper can connect to You is to your pants ... underpants ... underwear ... Scorpion underwear ..."



ZAP ZAP ZAP 



Grin ...



Chuckle ...



Is Ma good or what?



That was a good zap, Daniel ...



Very clever ...



Son nose, huh? 



You know ... You know that Mom had a -- moment -- with your scorpion underpants ... You know everything now, don't You?



Yeah Ma ... I know ... <3

Last night, Friday 20th ... 



Dad and Mom were in the car, driving home from school. 



It was evening time. 



Dinner time.



What should we have for dinner?



Mom suggested, "How about getting a barrel of KFC?"



Dad said nah.



You must have heard your mother said next, "Let's have Japanese then ..."



Dad was like, "Um, yea, okay ... which one?"



There are a few Japanese eateries in our neighbourhood.



We went to the one.



We ordered.



Justine sent a text shortly after, to say she was on the way home from school. Your sister joined us in about half an hour later.



We enjoyed our food.



We drank, we ate ... we were uh, merry.



Don't You roll your eyes.



When the bill came, Dad glanced at it before reaching for his wallet.



Mom picked up the small bill :

Oh gosh, seriously? 



What are the chances?



Isn't that like ... helloo ... 21?



Mom said excitedly, "Omg ... look ... tomorrow is his 21st ..."



That was her second sign that day. 



Earlier in the afternoon, Mom had asked Dad to drop her at the supermarket (during the children's nap time) for her to get the birthday stuffs for next Friday's birthday party. 



2 hours later, Dad came to get Mom.



Mom reminded Dad impatiently, "Just now at TESCO, you remember that car?"



Dad nodded. 



Yes, of course Dad would remember that 777 car ... he would remember your mother taking a photo, because it was quite clear she was not helping him unload the trolly of goodies into the boot. 



Grin. 



Ah, but all for a good reason.



That 777 car was heading towards us as we were walking to our car.



Mom had pointed out then, "Hey, that's 21 ... Son's 21st tomorrow ..."

We had gone home after the groceries.



Mom turned on the DVD ... FRIENDS' disc was in the player ... she had borrowed your aunty D's FRIENDS whole series and was slowly going through them ... one at a time ...

 FRIENDS

She laid back against the sofa ... 



Everything was as normal as normal could be.



Then ... shortly after ... she heard Monica chanting, 

"Fourty-two, twenty-one, life is turkey, Ross is done ..."



That was the episode where the 6 friends were playing ball.



42 : 21



Mom saw fireworks.



Upon checking the youtube video, your mother discovered that that scene is at 0:59 ... 



Decode : 14



Oh Wow ...



CoinciDANS? Not only that but Joey is wearing a number 22.



Do you not see all her angel numbers lining up to zap her?



Okay ... so after all that ... 



Today ...

Today, Saturday 21st ...



Your 21st today ...



Your family went to Justine's school this morning. Her school was having some kind of charity fair going on. Justine was involved in 2 dances. One contemporary, and the other a mob. Your family people went to support her.



Dad, Mom, Aunty D, Aunty C, Baby Megan and the maid.

When the lucky draw time came, Dad handed Mom the tickets. Justine bought 15 books for us.



Our tickets were numbered 4301 to 4315.



Mom pointed to Dad, "4301 ... that's 44 ... and then 4315 ... that's 4 ..."



What's a whole lot of angel numbers for her. :D 



However, she didn't get the ZAP until ...



During the lucky draws, at one point ... Mom leaned over to Dad and whispered (yeah, You could say your mother got bored since the MC was not calling any of her numbers), and so she found herself leaning over to Dad and whispering,  

"The guys are so short ... if my son were here, I will see him towering everybody here ... his face will be like -- shining ..."



The MC announced (lucky draw number) : "4242 ..."



W-what? 



Her eyes shot to her cell. 



The time was 11:51 am.



Decode : 44



Omg ...



ZAP ZAP ZAP ...



Like 44 months today?



Got your (FB) message Ma ... my 44th months today with Jesus and Mama Mary ...

Mom breathed in disbelief, "I -- just -- said -- my son ... and the MC announced, four two four two ... that's like ... 21 two times ... "



Omg ...



Dad heard that as much as Mom did.



Mom was still whispering excitedly into Dad's ear, when the MC called the next number, "And the next lucky number is ... oh this one is a short one ... number --- TWELVE!"



Silence.



Time stood still.



For Mom.



Number 12?



Like 21?



Omg ...



42 ... and then 21 ???



Omg ... what are the chances???



That was Monica's chant. Mom had scribbled that in her memo pad on her cell.



Omg ... Truly ... Her Son nose ...



He really nose what's going on ...



He really nose everything ...



Omg ... how do You explain this otherwise?



Gosh Daniel ... today is your 21st ... and Mom feels You right here beside her. 



She feels the --- connection. She really does. 

 

It's incredible.



Honestly Son, everything little thing reminds us of You.



We're thinking about You and missing your handsome face very much.



We love You, Son ... so very much. <3



Be good ... keep the zaps coming always.
 


Mom will upload Justine's dance video in a bit. 



It's in Aunty C's mobile. She's at her yoga class.