Our Sunday trip to Discovery Bay was good, save for the fact that I went into the wrong ferry with Maddy and her bike at first. Mistakenly, we boarded the ferry at Ferrypoint No. 2 (which destination is Park Island http://www.shkp.com.hk/en/scripts/property/property_mall_parkisland.php) instead of at Ferrypoint No. 3 (which destination is Discovery Bay). That involved me, Maddy and her bike a delay of 70 minutes and ME lugging around the “not so light bike” around Park Island and back. Luckily, Uncle Patrick and Aria were not too fussed to have waited for us. Upon arriving DB, Maddy was quiet as usual, since she was always slow to warm up, as per my observations of her since her birth. Aria, on the other hand, was very sociable and proactive, which caught Maddy by surprise. Things gone much better after Maddy watched the Trolls at Uncle Patrick’s place and after Maddy met the dogs, Sophia and FaFa (which in Cantonese means “small flower”). In the early afternoon, Aria and Maddy played at the slides and the “spaceship” in the play area of their apartment block. When I saw how well Aria related to Uncle Patrick, I got a tad jealous. I wish Maddy is as close to me as Aria is to Uncle Patrick. At the same time, however, I am aware that (i) I like to compare with people who seems to have a better cut than me; (ii) I am the only one in Maddy’s life currently who would object to some of her ideas; and (iii) in life, dynamics and relations’ closeness are beyond one’s control. Since the infamous non-molestation order I have already tried to make sure that during the weekends and holidays, I shall have access of Maddy on my own and in the absence of Nuryati, Maddy’s favourite “aunty”. This I did and do, with the view to get as much “mom VS daughter” quality time that I could have with Maddy. It has occurred to me on many occassions to ask Nuryati to live outside from our flat (just like the way many non-Chinese households arranged with their helpers), so that I could spend more alone time with Maddy. But, Nuryati is not keen on that. And deep down, I would wish to have Nuryati around in case of unanticipated and/or emergent needs. At the end of the day, I am a multi-career and single working mom. Going forward, I will thrash out the issue with Nuryati and brainstorm on the best way forward, such that I can get more quality downtime with Maddy. At the end of the day, may be the cause of it all is that I am a perfectionist. As far as I am concerened, I am racing with time. At the blink of an eye, Maddy is 4 and once she gets older, bonding time with her would become more rare. So, balancing the act of a single career mother and a disciplinarian, against my crystal clear awareness that time does fly, is tough!!!
Anyways, thanks to Unlce Patrick, please walk through the pictures that were taken of Maddy and me on that day by visiting the following link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=30276&page=3&id=534467792.
Filed under: Parenthood
I hand her the keys and sit on the passenger side of the car. I think of her in the stroller, on the tricycle, in the bumper cars at the fair and I see her now, ready to drive my car. She turns the key and I think of her playing with my keys before she could walk, making them jingle and squealing with delight.
The car starts and she tentatively tries to shift into reverse. I think of her on her first pair of roller skates, inching along, trying not to fall. She backs the car out of the parking space, shifts into drive and moves ahead. I try not to gasp, try not to make any noise, high or low, try to be cool, to let her drive the car without comment or complaint from the passenger seat.
I think of the look on her face on her first day of nursery school and it reminds me of the look on her face now, cool blue eyes looking into the future with confidence and curiosity. Her lessons in life go on, and for a while I’m along for the ride.
