My three daughters had the same Mandarin tutor, Ms. M, who came to our house every week from the time they were seven years old. She wasn’t the strictest or most outstanding tutor academically, but she had something equally valuable—an incredible amount of patience. She was always respectful towards me and tried her best to…
When my youngest daughter was in preschool, she had a best friend named M. The two of them were inseparable and shared a love for Rainbow Loom. I remember hoping they would go to the same primary school, but fate had other plans. As the months turned into years, we gradually lost touch with M….
Yesterday was Cass’s first day of Orientation at Universiti Malaya. She spent the whole day at the Dewan Tuanku Canselor, taking her first steps into this exciting new chapter of life. Today will be an even longer day, with Orientation only ending at 10.30pm. The students have already received their class timetables all the way…
Finally, it’s official! Cass, my youngest daughter, finally received her Offer Letter from Universiti Malaya today—but not before giving me a little scare! Earlier, she checked the UM application portal and the search result showed that her application was unsuccessful. My heart nearly skipped a beat. I asked her to check the Maya Portal (under…
I’ve been battling insomnia for the past one to two years. Darn perimenopause. No matter how exhausted or sleepy I feel at night, falling asleep is still a challenge. Deep sleep is now elusive. And when I finally do drift off, I inevitably wake up sometime between 1am and 4am to pee. After that, I’m…
This picture of Cass attending an online Math class during the pandemic popped up in my Google Photos today. I can hardly believe it has been six years. She was in Primary 6 in this picture. It was the height of the Covid pandemic, and we were all confined to our homes. Schooling was uncertain,…
Cass used to suffer from monthly UTIs when she was a baby. My gynecologist first detected a problem during my 16-week pregnancy scan. Her right kidney was dilated. Because of that finding, he arranged additional scans, 3D scans, and even an amniocentesis to investigate further. When Cass was born, all her initial tests came back…
Cass, my youngest daughter, wasn’t an early reader. She only started recognizing words at around age five. I still remember her teacher telling her to eat more eggs so her memory would improve and she could recognize words more easily. Perhaps she simply hadn’t found the right books yet. Everything changed when I introduced her…
It was 6 December 2015 (10.5 yrs ago) — a day I will never forget. We were at KLIA, just two hours away from boarding our flight to Hong Kong. The girls were excited, especially Cass, who was only seven years old and looking forward to visiting Disneyland. Then, the moment we arrived at the…
Both my eldest daughter, Alycia, and my middle daughter, Sherilyn, started ballet lessons when they were 4 years old. They’re now 23 and 21. Alycia disliked ballet from the very beginning and eventually stopped after a few years. She later moved on to kickboxing, Muay Thai and tennis instead — definitely more her style! Sherilyn,…
Cassandra turned 18 this year — such a special milestone for our youngest girl, and one that felt especially meaningful to celebrate as a family. On 31st March, Cass took the ETS train from KL back to Ipoh right after collecting her SPM results. We were so happy she came to Ipoh straight away, and…
While scrolling through my Google Photos today, I stumbled upon a photo of Cass taken in February 2016. She was holding a Rubik’s cube, completely absorbed in it — and just like that, a flood of memories came rushing back. Back then, both Alycia and Cass were crazy over the Rubik’s cube. Alycia’s high school…
Today marks the beginning of the SPM written papers, and what a way to kick-start the exam season — with Bahasa Malaysia, the must-pass subject that decides the fate of the entire exam. No matter how many As you score in the other papers, BM (and Sejarah on Wednesday!) are the gatekeepers. No pressure, right?…
Cass walked through the door today, looking as calm and collected as any normal school day. Then she casually said, “I won something in April this year and I only found out today,” and pulled out a trophy from her bag. My heart stopped for a moment. She told me — in the most nonchalant,…
If you’re a parent of a teenager, especially one in the thick of major exams, you know the drill. The house becomes a backdrop to their intense, often messy, always exhausting routine. Chores fall by the wayside, sleep schedules invert, and you learn to appreciate the rare sight of a cleaned plate left in the…
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