HALF & A FIVE CENTURY OLD

Happy 55th Birthday to Mom.

When I was about to enter primary school, I had a bad case of eczema on my hands. So to protect my sensitive and itchy hands, my mom made me a pair of white gloves. I remember taunts and other children calling me 'Michael Jackson', but at the time I didn't care, as I was thinking that I have the cleverest, most wonderful mom in the world, who would make me those precious gloves.

And I still have a picture somewhere, of me standing in front of the house, with my new school bag, new uniforms and Bata shoes, holding a teeny-weeny lunch bag with cross-stitched designs (which mom made herself, and I was proud of that possession too at school!) with those gloved hands.

Thanks mom, for reminding me what it is like to be an independent mother, that it's not cheap to raise a daughter (I must have cost a bomb), and whatever I am going through now, I'm gonna make it through unscathed.

For a shield from the storm,
For a friend, for a loveto keep me safe and warm
I turn to you.
For the strength to be strong,
For the will to carry on
For everything you do,
for everything that's true
I turn to you.