The New Age Mum

Ya this is the irritating English man who gave me the keys to his car on my very first driving lesson. At that time I was like erm……, “Hey hi, I don’t know how to operate the car. I have never driven a car before.” He gave me a ‘dirty look’ and asked if I needed him to show me how to drive. My reply was “of course”.

The subsequent lessons were fun with him always pretending that he is in a bad mood, how he hates the world and how he hates me for being funny. He is absolutely hilarious. However I really like the way he speaks about his wife. You can see the twinkle in his eyes, the gentle smile on his face whenever he speaks about her. You can really feel the love he has for his wife and family steaming up in the car whenever he speaks of them.

Anyway, driving with him can be quite nerve wrecking. One moment, he will be telling you that you are a better driver than who you think you are. Another moment, he will be jamming on your breaks yelling at you to look out. He makes sure that you practice through all the test routes and he always like to make it more difficult than it seems; for example, bringing you to the narrowest route to do a 3-point turn.

When he says you are ready to test, you will feel very happy and yet wonder if you can really pass the 1st time round because during driving, he will bring you to routes that you have to open your eyes wide to look. But he won’t tell you to look and if you miss looking, he will create a hoo haa, “see, see, see, Angelia, you must always look…..!” This is enough to send jitters through your spine and clouds into your brain that you will keep wondering if you are good enough to take the test, you may also wonder if this crazy bloke is really sure when he says you are ready to test. You might even feel that maybe he and the test centre are in a conspiracy to burn a hole in your pocket.

Three days before the test, he will give you a crash course picking up every smallest mistake you do, and deliberately asking you to do things against the traffic rules to make sure you are not sleep driving. There and then, you will have nightmares at night, dreaming that you have failed or worse still, killed the examiner in a car accident.

However on the big day, at that moment in the car with the tester, you can hear an English man constantly nagging at your ears, “Fasten seat belt. Look for speed signs. Scan across the road. Indicator, mirror check and shoulder check.” while being tested. And the next thing you know, the test is over; it is time to drive back in the test centre. Crazy thoughts will be running in your mind, “Oh god, it is over, that is fast and it is time to re-book the test.”

But……. the tester hands you the result slip, telling you that you have made it. Unable to believe, you open the result slip and read that you have scored beautifully with only 1 mark down. You scream and cry, realized that you are not wasting money because you passed the first time round, then it is time to play a harmless trick on Steve by telling him that you are hopeless and you have crashed his car into a pole during the test. Sheesh ……… pure evil (“,) .
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Letter to Steve

Dear Steve,
I just want you to know it was really fun having lessons with you. I really look forward to every lesson and if you remember, on the day your car broke down, I was rather disappointed because I am always looking forward to the morning laugh. You have taught me more than driving; you have taught me invaluable lessons in life. Though it is not a long time, we have known each other; it is already enough to leave foot prints in my heart and to me, you are in a way a mentor to me.

But…… I reckon you will miss me even more because it is not often that you will come across a crazy young mother like me.

I will miss you when I leave Australia but do look us up when you come to Singapore with your wife.

Best regards
Angie
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I believe that the suggested title by the author represents the many hopes of the Afghanistan women. It is a beautifully written book about betrayal, forgiveness, love and most amazingly the willpower of women and what women can do despite being subjected by men.

This book is relatively easy to read and I finish in about a week. It is really addictive too.

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Well since coming to Australia, my hubby and I had never gone out alone dating because of the boys. Therefore, the only dating time we have now is after the boys have gone to bed. This is the only time we get to talk about our daily activities without any interruption from the boys. And so what do we talk about? We talk about everything; our past, present and future; and sometimes the conversation ends happily and sometimes with a debate. Nevertheless, this is another time I treasure a lot and happy that my hubby is willing to spend time talking with me despite being tired from work.

Anyway, as usual that night, we talk and I really can’t remember how we got to the topic on mother-in-law, daughter-in-law and grandchildren but I remember telling him how upset I was on the day I gave birth to the boys when his parents were wooing and ahhing about how much the boys look like them and my hubby. It seems that not much credit was given to me- the mother lying on the hospital bed. Hence the ‘If I Ever …, I will …’ started. I told him:

If I ever become a grandma, I will tell my daughters-in-law that their babies are just as beautiful as they are.

If I ever get to look after my boys’ kids:

1. I will teach my grandkids to tell their parents how much they love their parents each day their parents come back from work.
2. I will like to teach my grandkids to do cards for their parents to show how much they appreciate their parents.
3. I will like to bring them to the playground and watch them play.
4. I will like to cook nice food for them.
5. I will like to tell them stories only grandma can tell and teach them those things only a grandma might know.

I know I sound crazy and my hubby thinks I am crazy too. I might change my mind and perspectives since there is still such a long time to go. However, still this thing about grandkids will happen one day.

Anyway, here is 1 more, ‘If I Ever… I will …’. If I ever am a witch, I will turn my hubby in to a toad whenever he irritates me, and turn him back into human again when I miss him.