I remember being told by my brothers and sisters about how every weekend my abah and mak would take all of them to the beach, any beach in our hometown. The four of them would go swimming together. My dad was an avid swimmer and he taught all of my siblings how to swim. The were like fish in the sea. Mak would cook up a storm knowing that her kids would be famished after hours of being in the water. Her usual fare and favorite among our family was nasi lemak. During this time, I wasn't even conceived. I must have been up there in the heavens being told by God that my time hasn't come yet.
When I came along, they were growing up to be teenagers and soon were caught up with their studies. I guess my abah and mak also felt a little older and they stopped taking their kids to the beach; so I missed out on that experience. I remember my abah only taught me how to swim ONCE; one sunny morning in the cold water of a small river in rural KT. He just held me in a horizontal position and dropped me in the water and expected me to float. I must have choked in a gazillion gallon of water. Yeah, I know it was extreme but it was the most fun experience of learning how to swim. I miss those moments and I wish that I was born sooner if only for the desire to experience what my siblings experienced with mak and abah.
Now, my first brother has taken to following abah's footsteps. As a first child, he's taken on the role of a responsible son, or in my mak's words, anak yang taat by calling my parents every week and making it a point to visit them at least once every month. And, being a good dad that he is, he never fails to bring his kids to the beach. Granted, my nieces and nephew are not swimmers yet but they take to the water like it was their elixir of life (ahem!). The little one has only now started to learn to immerse herself in deep water and I reckon she too will soon be an eager beaver in the water.
In retrospect, although I did not get to experience the more rigorous activities that abah and mak had taught my brothers and sistes I guess they had other ways of showing me how to have fun. Like how abah taught me how to ride the motorbike and how mak taught me how to sew. It's been ages since I rode abah's kapcai and god knows I could not sew to save my life; but I know that in some ways it was my parents' way of showing me the little things that are part of their lives that I would no doubt remember when I think of them until the day I die.
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December 12, 2004
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