Hello Son,
On Saturday (3 days ago), Dad and Mom went for a staycation.
We were joining Aunty D and the 3 kids.
They went on Friday night.
Early in the morning (on Saturday) at 8:47 am, mom sent a text on the family chat.
"Today woke up with a heavy bump on my left, below the ear, upper neck.
Normally eat air-fried stuff will get a small one (heaty bump) ...
This one is like a ping-pong ball ... now a bit deflated.
Omg. Aging sucks."
Mom said it was a bit deflated at the time of the text, because when she woke up at 5:50 am that Saturday morning, the bump was a ...a ... ping-pong ball. Pause.
Okay, maybe half of a ping-pong ball then.
Don't think your mother doesn't see your eyes rolling upwards. Hah.
It was certainly the fried chicken Dad ordered the day before for lunch in school, and the deep friend children sticks your father bought from the Pasar Malam (night market) on Friday night.
Fried fried fried ...
Reheated oil ...
Heaty.
Very heaty.
Therefore, heat bumps.
You don't need a doctor for this.
In some cultures, this word is strange and non-existent.
For Asians however, heaty is a common word.
So that was the conversation this morning with the family.
So anyway, we left home at about 9 am.
It would take about 25 mins to get there, said Waze.
The ride there would be smooth and free of traffic
as we would not be joining the Raya "Balik Kampung" jam.
Soon we were at the hotel.
The journey there was short, sweet and with no traffic.
The children ran in to meet us at the check-in reception lobby, followed by Aunty D.
The children were in their swimming suits already.
"Can we go swimming yet? Can we? Can we?"
one after another pestering Aunty D for a yes answer.
Your Aunt D was like, "Wait. Uncle Bryan and Teacher Lynn
have to go to their room to change first."
AwWw--wWw ...
Pouts of impatience immediately appeared on the children's faces,
along with tantrum-stomping of feet from the youngest.
Grin.
Okay, okay, okay ... alright -- let's hurry up ...
Dad and Mom went to our room.
Room 5106.
Mom's automatic conversion of numbers : 21
She had to smile.
Daniel, you were surely with us.
Just to mention that, at the reception, Aunty D and Dad were trying to change our room to another one nearer to Aunty D's room. They were in 3106. So kids and Aunty D were in block 3 and we were in block 5. Aunty D was giving all her good reasons to the hotel manager, like Dad and Mom were supposed to help her with the kids and now it's so inconvenient that our rooms were so far apart. The hotel manager looked forlorn as he repeated that the rooms were fully booked and we could not switch to another room.
Huh.
And now we know the reason why.
We need the ZAP room.
5106.
Smile.
Oh, the manager gave us 2 giant (warm) cookies in a paper bag, as a warm welcome to the hotel.
It was thiiiiiiiiiis big.
Don't think Mom has ever had such a giant cookie before.
Walking into our room, at the coffee counter, Mom pointed out to Dad :
FREE ... mom said.
Smile. :D
Nice touch, Son. :D
Soon your parents were in their simming gears, and walking back to the poolside.
There were not many people.
So there were 3 pools.
1st one, with the fun slides (for older children),
2nd, the wading pool (water is below knee deep)
(for younger children)
 |
| small crescent shaped baby pool |
3rd, the infinity pool (for adults obviously).
mom on the left ...
aunty D, floating position, 3rd from left ...
and the 2 kids (3rd kid can't be seen) ...
Oh oh, forgot to mention ...
Rewind a bit ya (before jumping into the water) ...
Mom went to the infinity pool.
Look what/who greeted her. :D
21.
Pause.
Everywhere your mother is, there you will be, Daniel.
Thank you Jesus, for the mother-son bonding that can never be severed.
Also, for mom and you to be able to communicate from earth to heaven, heaven to earth.
My, won't we we have a lot to talk about when we reunite someday?
 |
| Here's mom taking a selfie. |
 |
| can't get them all in the photo ... |
 |
| Dad is chilling ... |
We had a nice relaxing time at the pool.
Your mother swam several (very very slow) laps.
The Son took periodical peeks at us.
Aunty D misted us all with sprayed-on sunscreen.
Lol.
After awhile, the children went to the big splash pool.
Mom went to the wading pool.
The pool was shaded with coconut trees.
There was 2 little boys in that pool, with their father sitting by the edge of the pool.
When mom stepped into the water, both boys came over.
Mom had a swimming board with her.
So Mom was sitting in the water, and her board was just floating in front of her.
The 2 boys came over and started to talk to your mother.
The bigger boy put a little stiff doll (about 10 cm in length) ... you know like those figurines you get from a McDonald's Happy Meal ... on Mom's board. Mom found herself staring at the doll. Nothing is a coincidence.
Imagine a small doll on a board.
Like how Prince Arthur (in Merlin) was laid on a boat in the water after he passed.
For some reason, that image reminded Mom of how you were on the bed after you breathed your last breath.
On January 21, 2010.
Why of all things, the boy had to put the doll in front of her face in that way?
Then the smaller boy ... would you believe it ... but he showed Mom an orange ping-pong ball in one hand. He had another plastic toy in the other hand (that looked very much like another something from a Happy Meal). It was a brown little something ... Mom can't be sure ... because all her attention was on the ping-pong ball.
And the doll.
Omg.
Only this morning, she was talking about a ping-pong ball and suddenly out of the blues, this little boy presented a ping-pong ball to her face.
The bigger boy was 5.5 years old whilst the younger was 2, as your mother learned later.
What are the chances of having a ping-pong ball thrust into her face, on the same day that she uttered this word? And the image of the doll ... so still and just laying there on her board ... floating aimlessly before her ...
Goosebumps.
Omg.
Her son is zapping her alright.
He is making his presence felt.
You must know about mom's bump then.
Behind her jaw ... thereabouts.
Mom ran her finger behind her ear, just below her jaw.
The bump was getting smaller, but she could still feel the small tiny ball below her ear.
Then the older boy turned around, and waded towards a little something that Mom noticed was floating in the water, further away.
The boy brought the toy to Mom.
Oh.
It was a poppit toy.
Rectangular shaped.
The boy said, as he demonstrated, pushing the bubbles, "See? You just have to pop like this."
And he started popping the bubbles.
Your mother watched his enthusiasm with a big smile.
It was only when the boy turned that rectangular-shaped toy over that Mom felt her breath leave her.
Omg.
It was a handphone.
A handphone?
As in "Hello" ... handphone?
Like "Hello Son?" ... handphone???
Were you calling Mom, Daniel?
Were you telling Mom to "pop" the ball behind her ear?
Hahaha ...
Chuckle.
That's funny, Son.
Very clever.
Handphone.
Ping-pong ball.
That stiff doll.
ZAP ZAP ZAP.
You are surely vacationing with Mom at the resort.
No doubt about that.
Thanks for being near, Son.
As always.
Evening came.
Aunty C and Grandma would be joining us for dinner.
So Aunty C texted and said to meet at the restaurant at 7 pm.
Time to go.
 |
| Here's Dad. |
We are leaving our room, to meet Aunty D and kids at the lobby.
We will be going in one car.
Dad went to get the car.
Picked us all up from the lobby.
As we drove out of the hotel, and onto the main road, Mom and Aunty D and the kids were busy chatting about the day. Dad was driving. Suddenly, Dad reached over to the radio to increase the volume of a song that had come on. Mom obviously was not aware of any song from the radio because of all the noise and excitement in the car. Lol.
Then she heard ...
Oh my ...
You say it best when you say nothing at all ... was on the radio.
Quickly, your mother glanced at the time on the dashboard.
1914 pm.
15 (your age)
At the same time, Mom noticed the car in front of us.
You must have whispered, "Look ahead, Ma ..."
ZAP ZAP ZAP
Truly, you say it best when you say nothing at all, Daniel.
 |
| These prawns were gigantic. We don't know the name though. |
 |
| The prawn was fresh, succulent, spicy and sweet at the same time. |
 |
| Fish was delicious too. The gravy on the rice is just awesome. |
After a sumptious dinner, we went back to the hotel.
Aunty C and Grandma drove back to KL.
In the car, Aunty D asked the children, "Let Teacher Lynn hear the angel song."
Mom's ears pricked up.
"Angel Song?"
Your mother's eyes shot to the clock on the dashboard.
The time was 2055 pm.
Decode : 21
Omg.
Mom told Aunty D that little R had mentioned this Angel song in school during the week.
The children played the song for Mom on one of their handphones.
Mom listened.
The song was not familiar.
Oh well.
Never mind.
It's the ZAP that is familiar.
Smile.
 |
| We arrived back at the hotel. |
The next day (Sunday),
after a nice buffet breakfast, we went to the pool.
 |
| We had the whole pool to ourselves. |
 |
| It was a cloudy day. |
 |
| We were able to spend a lot of time in the water because it wasn't hot. |
So anyway, around 2 pm, it began to rain.
We got up from the pool, and waited at the shaded outdoor lobby, for the rain to stop.
It was almost an hour before we could get into the water again.
We muched on crisps, and play handphone games whilst waiting.
Haha.
By the way, Mom's stuck at level 374 Tetris.
So, Mom was back in the infinity pool.
She was laying on her back, floating with her board, looking far away into the sky.
Pause.
It poured just now.
After a shower, a rainbow should appear, right?
So, Mom was looking hard for the tiniest clue or sign of a rainbow in the sky.
You must have heard your mother let out a sigh when she could not locate any rainbows.
All of a sudden, Mom noticed a plane coming through a white cloud.
Before she knew it, the lyrics of DANIEL sprang to her mind.
Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane ...
I can see the red tail lights heading for Spain ...
Oh and, I can see Daniel waving goodbye ...
God, it looks like Daniel ...
Must be the clouds in my eyes.
Soon, Mum was humming the song under her breath in the pool.
Aww Son, no rainbow ... but never mind.
You never disappoint.
You sent Mom a plane.
Is that a ZAP?
After all, it's not uncommon to see planes in the sky.
Pause.
Mom can hear your muttering.
No, no, she is not a Doubting Thomas.
She just wants to be very, very sure.
She doesn't want to just simply accept anything and everything
as a ZAP from her son in heaven.
Mom was still laying on her back, hugging her board, looking into the sky.
As your mother was staring into the vast clear blue sky (after the rain, the sky was very clear), Mom suddenly saw a second plane, coming out from that same cloud.
Omg.
A second plane?
As in two?
Seriously?
You're reading your mother's thoughts?
Believe, Ma ... :D
Thank you, Son.
That was pretty neat.
ZAP ZAP ZAP.
Daniel, you're a star, in the face of the sky ...
Lord, I miss Daniel ...
Oh, I miss him so much ...
