小枫叶…看世界

“Don’t ever lie, because when you lie, you need a thousand lies to cover that one lie” These are the wise words from a very wise man.  No…I’m not talking about any of my former teachers or any philosophers.  This advice was actually from my beloved father in law.

I first met him in 1994, shortly after meeting my ex-boyfriend……… who is now my husband.  He conned me into going to his house by telling me that the living hall in his house was on the 1^st floor and that his parents were always upstairs and no one will be at the ground floor.  I naively believed him.  The first person I met in his house was my Father in Law.  I was really shy then and did not even dare to call him “Uncle”.  We hardly talked even after he joined the same company I was working and became my colleague.  Haha, my Father in Law, my colleague…

I married into the family in 1997 and started to call him “Pa”.  Slowly, I discovered that this man who was quite distant to me in the beginning was actually such a loving man.  He was a family man who loved his wife and children dearly.  He used to be a joyous person until his kidney failed which robbed him of his normal life and plunged him into a self secluded life.  He was on dialysis for 18 years before he passed on.  But despite his ill health, he was still a loving man who cared very much about each member of his family. 

I could still remember his jokes, famous quotes, comments, criticism etc.  There is this particular restaurant in our taman that he likes because the name of the restaurant “Mao Tuck Teng” represent 3 famous people, i.e. Mao Tze Tung, Teng Siow Peng and he himself, Tuck Choong….He used to tell us the reason why the government servants are called “kakitangan” kerajaan; that’s because they do not have brains, only got their kaki and tangan to work with;  those people who buy 4Ds, he said they are feeding horses;  to him, Cantonese ladies are the fiercest because his mother was a Cantonese and she was very fierce.  Ironically, I am also a Cantonese and therefore, I was always sent into the battle field to fight…… for tables in crowded restaurants or coffee shops. 

Today is his 69^th birthday, if he is still alive… and it is tonight that I especially miss him.  But he has gone to a better place, leaving all of us behind with only memories of him in our hearts and our minds.  Pa, we miss you and we love you and wish that we can meet you again… 

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