Play it again, Sam

Some say as one aged, one’s memory tends to fade exponentially. But, it is equally true that as one’s memory faded, one will try hard to remember one’s actual age. I did not make this up; my sister merely ‘said’ this in her son’s blog. She refuses to tell her birthday age (being a female gender) but I suspect it was because she couldn’t remember and hides it conveniently under her senility.
How time flies, I still remember the years when our birthdays went away unnoticed except mum would always insist upon having us to swallow two really hard boiled eggs. And that is a sign of another year older. There wasn’t a gift, or a surprise birthday cake, or even some birthday parties, as such. It was an era of simplicity where two hard boiled eggs was all you get. I don’t remember myself going through a real birthday party, nor would I remember my sister having one. I guess we were too ignorant of the importance of birthdays. Incidentally, how important is the birthday anyway? It only reminded us we are a year older, which was fine when you are in your teens. When one gets to 40s, a birthday will only remind us the number of extra wrinkles, the problem of having to count one year less and finally, the whole idea of not wanting to remember our age.

Anyway, this is not my birthday but Sam’s. I will let her age remain a mystery but I am sure you can count the number of wrinkles on her face to make a good guess. The other mystery is her name. Sam has always been the nickname we so affectionate bestowed on her, and we continued to use the name irregardless of the other name for her. Sam is not short for Samantha but rather Sam Quat. I will not go through how the second part of her nickname came about, but I will be happy to reveal the truth if her children conveniently bribe me to a super jumbo size laksa, else my lips are sealed…….zip zip.
The other thing about this younger sister of mine is her insidious effort to make her cents worth. I don’t know which side of the genes she inherited but it will always marvel me in total astonishment every time she displays her skills. She orders her Roti Canai in the strangest way, yes the empat segi version instead of the usual circular version. Empat segi is a special order, and it has to be made to order. Instead of the mass production type, some of which ended cold and no longer flaky, you get a freshly made, baking hot roti……….all for a mere 60 cents or a little more now! She wouldn’t admit this but rather attributes it to being not so oily. I will take my hat off for her chivalric act for being so particular but I am sure she wouldn’t have it if she was the one that does the toss. Very healthy, plus her forever kurang kurang manis teh tarik. Each time I have breakfast with her, she mumbles an extra kurang. I am not over-reacting but I suspect it is age rather than health that made her mumbles another kurang. I said it before and I will say it again, for no matter how times you care to mention kurang, you will still end up with the sweetest teh tarik. That being the case, Sam will always have her means to dilute it. She asks for hot water! And you know what? Paid one, get one free.

I say no more. Happy birthday my dear sister, and may you have great health. Remember age is only a number, that is, if you can still remember it.

Postscript: Greetings from my two children who also celebrated their birthdays today.