I think he writes it so well and, in a way, compels us to redefine the meaning of "romantic". Enjoy the reading!
Mr. Brown: Sweet Eighteen
It was our 18th wedding anniversary. Or as we like to call it in our family, Sunday.
We had a most romantic day celebrating our 18 years of marital bliss.
Breakfast was a romantic affair of me grabbing a quick beehoon alone downstairs at the coffee shop while Joy was tasked with buying prata for my wife, as the wife got Faith and the rest of the kids ready for Sunday service.
Then lunch was another romantic meal at the Block 105 Market & Food Centre, the highlight of which was I managed to get my wife her favourite nasi lemak without too much queuing, while she fed Faith with chicken rice that Isaac queued up for (children after 10 years of age are excellent for food buying duties).
Then the wife had the romantic duty of doing the laundry plus keeping an eye on Faith, while I took Isaac with me to the office because I had work to complete. Joy had maths tuition so we had one less kid in the house, for an hour or so, which was a very welcome and romantic feeling.
At the office, I spent my Sunday working while Isaac did the English assessment book that the wife assigned him to do. Then he read a little from his book "The One and Only Ivan", that his younger sister had already completed reading some days ago. He also got to play with some of the toys in my office. This father and son briefly discussed the merits of the Suzuki Swift Bumblebee from the Takara Tomy Transformers: Alternity series of toys.
After two hours at the office with my son, I locked up the office and took him to Funan Mall, where I needed to buy some DDR3 1066 RAM for the used 2009 27-inch iMac I bought for the wife to replace her aging 2006 20-inch iMac.
That 2006 iMac was still working, but I thought she deserved something that could handle HD YouTube videos, that had a bigger screen, and a speaker that didn't go pffffft when there was just a whiff of bass.
Memory is really expensive these days, $75 for one piece of 4GB. I bought a pair (wincing at the $150 bill) so I could bump the memory in the "new" iMac from 4GB to 12GB. The wife would never know the difference but I would.
I picked up the RAM and the basic wired keyboard the wife asked for and as a treat, I let Isaac browse the toy stores at the fifth level of Funan Mall. "See only," I said to my son, "Not buy ah."
He complained a little about it but was content to look at the toys on display.
Then my Mom called and said she needed a ride home from her mahjong session, and I called my wife to let her know I would be picking Mom home then we could all have dinner together when I drove back. My wife romantically managed an "OK", the kind of distracted "OK" that came from having to deal with laundry, still-wet school shoes, and a bottle of ketchup broken by Faith. My autistic firstborn likes ketchup too much, and knows where we keep it in the kitchen.
We then took the kids and my Mom out for a romantic dinner at the kopitiam. We usually have dinner at my wife's parents' place on a Sunday but my in-laws were at some RC dinner so no 夜市人生 to watch and tweet about this time.
Halfway through the romantic family dinner, Faith spilled grape soda on herself, and we had to clean her up. The wife gave a loud "Tsk!"
And then Isaac complained a little about the lack of fries in his Fish and Chips (but ate all of it anyway). As usual, Joy could not finish her meal (it was spaghetti with Irish meatballs), and got a mild chiding from my mom about it.
"Look at you," Mom said, "So skinny and short! You are still wearing your school uniform from Primary One! In Primary Four! How are you going to grow taller without eating enough?"
"Hey, I am not a midget, ok?" Joy replied.
"Hahahahaha!" my Mom laughed heartily.
Mom went for her Sunday Qigong session and we went home after dinner. The wife started preparing the kids' school uniforms because the next day was Monday. Then I watched an older episode of local animated series, Heartland Hubby, with the kids because they are my biggest fans (I voice one of the characters, the arch enemy of the hero).
We tucked the kids into bed, then the wife said she can't seem to find her ezlink card, so I offered to change out of my pajamas, and go downstairs to look for it in the car.
While at the car, I decided to make a late night grocery run to Sheng Siong. I picked up the cereal that Joy likes, plus some toilet rolls, and a 2-litre bottle of Meiji fresh milk (because the one currently in the fridge was already past the due date. How did I know? My stomach told me a few days ago).
I know, very romantic things to buy, right? I also picked up a little something extra for the wife.
When I got home, the wife was already done with the remaining housework and was watching Luke kiss Lorelai at the gazebo in Gilmore Girls.
"I couldn't find your ezlink card in the car, dear. But I did buy some groceries. And your favourite ice-cream."
"Oooh, Magnum!" she said, and got one for herself and one for me, and we continued watch Gilmore Girls together.
Then, just as we finished our TV show and ice-creams, Faith came out of her bedroom.
"She wet herself and her bed, aiyoh," the wife said, with a tired sigh.
"You clean her up and change her pajamas, I will clean her bed and change the bedsheets, and soak the stained sheets in the kitchen toilet," I said.
It was almost midnight, a few minutes before the end of our wedding anniversary.
"That wasn't the most romantic wedding anniversary day hor?" she laughed.
"Who said?" I reply, and gave her a quick peck.
We lay in bed, staring at the ceiling lit by our bedside lamp, the room aglow with faint yellow light.
The wife turned to me and said, "There is a young lizard on the ceiling."
"It won't kachao you lah."
"But what if trips and falls on me? Like wahoohoohoooooo!"
"Don't be silly. Hanging upside down is what lizards do all day."
Then we both laughed.
Married for eighteen years, together for twenty six. This is what it comes down to. Juggling three kids, changing the adult diaper of our fourteen-year-old, and talking about a lizard on the ceiling at night.
Wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
