This morning, we left the condo at 7:15 am in the morning.
Grandma, Aunty C, Justine, Dad and Mom.
We were attending the Marian Rally at Kelana Jaya Stadium.
A rally for Mama Mary.
How nice. :D
The rosary session started at 8 am or thereabouts. Believe it or not, but the rosary was chanted in 20 different languages. What did Mother Mary say about that? :D
We were at the first row.
The Marian procession started with the Hail Marys.
Would you take a look and see where Mama Mary's statue stopped at the material time?
Oh boy, She was right in front of Mom.
Here's a bigger picture.
Mom whispered to Aunty C, "Mother Mary is right in front of me ... If I close my eyes and just walk straight, I'll walk straight into Her arms ..."
Yes yes ... even Aunty C who was sitting on your mother's left did not have a 100% straight on face-to-face position with Our Lady.
You must have had something to do with that, Mom thinks.
What a coinciDANS, huh ...
The weather was good, although it threatened to drizzle at first.
The gentle droplets were clear showers of blessings from above, that's for sure, what those were.
Assumption of the Virgin Mary
Mom's um, friend ... was there.
Pakiam.
Grin. There's a long story behind that which Mom has told You before in one of her calls some time ago.
Anyway, the mass only started at 11 am.
So You can imagine how much time we had on our hands.
Mom soon found herself thinking about our Lourdes trip ... the Grotto ... that was like, heaven here on earth, wasn't it? She is planning to visit Lourdes again next year, with Aunty C.
She thought about the baths ...
Yeah, the baths ...
The nine days ...
Your mother remembers everything, as if those events happened only yesterday.
Suddenly, at one point, she felt a jolt in her heart as her thoughts brought her back to a certain moment ... that zapped ... your scribbled note in her pink diary ... Mom somehow found herself remembering specifically that You had written, among others, that going into the bath was like dipping into ice-freezing water ... but You said, each time You went into the bath, You felt better, and that when You came out, You felt happier and that You felt like hugging everybody.
Yes, hugging everybody ...
ZAP ZAP ZAP ...
Only yesterday, Mom told You about the FREE HUGS in Call 498.
Free ...
Of all the tee shirts You could have brought to France, You had to bring a pink tee with the words FREE on it. Little did we know then that this FREE tee shirt would be so precious to your family after You left us to live with Jesus and Mama Mary.
You really were giving your mother a hug all the way from heaven, Son.
That thought is certainly confirmed. :D
The stadium was quite packed.
The crowd control was pretty good.
Everything went on very smoothly.
Nobody got stamped or stomped on.
Chuckle.
The above photo shows the crowd on our left, whilst the photo below shows the crowd on our right.
Here are Aunty C, Justine and Dad. :D
Aunty C took this photo ...
Can You see the procession of priests?
So anyway, mass ended at 1 pm.
It was lunch time.
We ended up in a mall in Subang. Mom needed to get some colored papers for our concert use, and so we decided to have lunch there.
We arrived at the mall.
We had lunch.
Then, Grandma and Mom went to the hypermart whilst Justine, Aunty C and Dad went to a cafe to wait.
At the hypermart, Grandma went to household, whilst Mom spent her time at the stationeries and books.
Some 2 hours later ...
Justine sent your mother a text at 4 pm to say, "Let's go back laa ... I have a lot of things to do ..."
Mom was done by then. Dad came to help her with the cart.
We stacked the trolly with our purchases, and walked over to Big Apple cafe, at the far corner.
Grandma was missing.
Nobody could contact her. Her phone was out, we suspected.
Low bat.
Dad went to look for Grandma.
At 4:30 pm, Dad sent Mom a text to say, "missing person found," and that Grandma was at "counter 22."
Ah, okay ...
Justine, Aunty C and Mom went over to counter 22.
Grandma was like, "Hey, the things here are cheaper than Jusco ..."
Yeah, it's okay ...
We were all walking towards the escalator to go down to the ground floor.
Grandma suddenly said, "I forgot to get my FREE gift ..."
Mom asked, "What FREE gift? What did you buy?"
Grandma replied, "Milo ..."
Ah yes, MILO ... Dad bought a tin of MILO a few days ago and it came with a FREE mug.
So, Mom turned the trolly around to go towards the Gift Redemption counter. At the same time, Mom called out to Justine to tell Dad that Grandma and her were going to the Gift counter to claim the FREE gift.
FREE gift ...
FREE gift ...
FREE gift???
The E = mc (squared) started in your mother's head.
Can You blame her?
She's getting some kind of signal coming in from -- somewhere over the rainbow ...
Grandma was soon at the gift counter, whilst Mom waited with the trolly nearby.
A few minutes later, Grandma walked over to Mom, carrying nothing in her hands.
Mom asked, "Where is your FREE gift?"
Your grandmother replied, "There's no more ..."
No more ???
Oh ... while stocks last, apparently.
Pause ...
Mom did not know what to make of that.
It just felt strange, that moment.
Anti-climax.
Just then, right at that moment ...
ANDDDDD ACTION !!!
Dad appeared.
Your father said, "Eh, take out your receipt, we also have a FREE gift ... a bowl ..."
Mom asked, "Are you sure?"
Dad did not mention anything about any FREE gift before that.
Dad replied, "I forgot ... I bought the toothpaste ... it comes with a FREE bowl ... I forgot about it ..."
Mom reached for her receipt and handed it to Dad.
Dad took it and presented it to the counter girl.
He came back to us with a glass bowl and beaming, "I got a salad bowl ..."
Only last night, Mom chided Dad for using the wrong bowl whilst he was preparing his salad.
Mom had specifically said to Dad last night, "Why are you using that? (That being the wrong bowl) That's not for salad. Use the proper bowl la ..."
And then today, the day after Mom chided Dad, he gets a FREE salad bowl? Which, by the way, he almost forgot to collect.
Dad said, with a big grin on his face, "Son gave me my own salad bowl ... Now I can use this bowl for my salad ... Thanks Son ..."
Hmmm ...
Your mother listened quietly.
She definitely smelt a ... pepperoni pizza somewhere.
Dad handed her back the receipt.
Mom glanced at it.
638-25 ...
Pause here ... as her brains started to work at umm, top speed.
Omg ...
Seriously???
24 ???
Mom hurried towards Dad.
"You actually forgot all about your FREE bowl. Isn't it weird that my mom went back for her FREE gift, and it turns out, it was you who got the FREE gift? Son reminded you ..."
Through Grandma ...
You must have whispered to Grandma.
You must have.
If You had not, we would have all walked to the car ... without any thought to Dad's FREE salad bowl. :D
That was surely You, Daniel. :D
24 ...
Why, that's easy ...
Thank You, Son ...
That is clearly your gift to Dad.
Dad will be using his salad bowl tonight. :D
Dot 25 : Diary
