Life is either a daring adventure or nothing

Tears welling up in the little boy's eyes, he fought hard to prevent the tears from trickling down. Tears are a sign of weakness and boys do not shed tears. Standing in the middle of the living room and with a surge in audacious boldness, the little boy pointed at his Mum and shouted with great anger in his tone....

With clenched fists, the little boy turned around and stormed back into his bedroom, throwing his face into the pillow and punching the bed mattress. He thinks within himself, "I hate you Mum! Why won't you buy me that Transformer toy?!?!"

The little boy's Mum heaved a sigh of sadness and walked back into the kitchen to continue with her household chores. She's speaks to herself, "Sigh... When will this boy ever learn that earning money is not easy?"

Such a scenario just keeps repeating itself through the next few years. Tempers somehow just easily flare up resulting in quarrels with cursing remarks and vulgarities flying about. From refusal to buy toys, to failing tests, to stealing money, to forgetting to flush the toilet after use. Seemingly ANYTHING could result in a quarrel in this family.

------- (Pause) --------

This is no ordinary family... Welcome to MY family.... 18 years ago. And yes, the little boy above is non other than me. You must have skipped a heartbeat upon knowing this right? Far cry from the goodie goodie guy you know of me today. Ignorant, arrogant, ill-tempered, want everything my way....etc. You name any spoilt-child like attitude, I almost have them all.

I never knew why I behaved like that in those years. Perhaps it was bad peer influence. Perhaps it the lack of a Father figure in my early childhood years as my Dad was working hard overseas. Perhaps it was just any child's growing up phase. Well, I never got down to diagnosing what really it was.

But one thing I know.. I am really thankful that my Mum never gave up on me despite all the verbal abuses I hurled at her in those growing up years. Instead of shutting me out or exchanging verbal abuses with me, she continued to love and care for me faithfully in the little everyday things which I had often taken for granted. Things like covering blanket for me in the middle of the night, washing and ironing my clothes, preparing breakfast for me daily before school, giving me tuition, piggy back me to the doctor when I injured my leg...etc. And the list is never ending even until today.

I know that a large part of who I am today is because of my Mum - how she has given to me and how I have modeled after her. She does have her flaws in many ways and may not be a perfect Mum (no one is perfect anyway), but to me, she's the best Mum in the world! *clap clap clap*


Thank you Mum! This post is specially dedicated to you! Love you!

To all out there: In your journey of growing up, have you taken your Mum for granted unknowingly? Maybe it starts with saying 'Thank You' to your Mum the next time she does something for you. It's as simple as that. You don't need to wait for Mother's Day to make it special for your Mum. You can make everyday a Mother's Day for your Mum by appreciating her!